Giovanni Lavaggi – SC | The “forgotten” drivers of F1

1995 Daytona Rolex 24. Photo Scott Newman

1995 Daytona Rolex 24. Photo Scott Newman

1997 Le Mans. Photo from FB page Racingshoots

1998 Kyalami International. Photo Johan Jaybee Pretorius

The Lavaggi LS1 is a Le Mans Prototype (LMP1) built by Scuderia Lavaggi of the former F1 driver Giovanni Lavaggi. Completed in 2006, the LS1, initially using a 6-litre Ford V8 engine, made its racing debut at the last race of the year at Jarama, driven by the driver-constructor himself and by Xavier Pompidou as co-driver. With no previous tests whatsoever, in the second free practices, the car was just 2.8 seconds slower than the fastest one, even if slowed down by electronic problems, which pestered the team during the whole race weekend and caused also two engines failure. The following years, Scuderia Lavaggi was strongly affected by the financial crisis started in USA, which expanded soon in the rest of the world. The sponsors who were supporting the Lavaggi LS1 project disappeared and Giovanni had to face the racing seasons and the car’s updates imposed by the rules changes, with his own resources. For 2010, ACO imposed new rules that would have meant heavy modifications to the Lavaggi LS1, including the adoption of a different type of engine. Then, persisting the bad financial global situation, Giovanni Lavaggi decided to retire the car at the end of the 2009 season. Info and photo from Wiki

2022 Minardi Day and his massive and angular prototype Lavaggi LS1 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavaggi_LS1. Photo via Max Motor CZ