The team's roots trace back to 1986, following the death of driver Akira Hagiwara during a test session at Sportsland Sugo. Seeking a replacement, Akira Akagi met manager Cesare Gariboldi at an F3000 race in Imola and signed Ivan Capelli. After Capelli won the 1986 International F3000 title in Leyton House colors, Akagi sponsored a return to Formula One for the March team in 1987. The initial March 87P was an adapted F3000 chassis that struggled with underpowered engines at its debut in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
In 1988, the team saw a surge in performance with the March 881, designed by Adrian Newey. The car was the only naturally aspirated entry to lead a race that year when Capelli briefly overtook Alain Prost at the Japanese Grand Prix. By 1989, Akagi purchased the F1 team and F3000 rights from March, expanding the staff from 19 to 120 people. Following the death of Gariboldi in a road accident, the team's chassis were designated with the "CG" prefix in his honor.
For the 1990 season, the team officially became Leyton House Racing, utilizing the CG901 chassis and Judd V8 engines. The team initially struggled with aerodynamic issues traced to a floor defect in the Southampton wind tunnel, leading to several failures to qualify. However, a "Spec B" update led to a historic performance at the French Grand Prix, where Capelli led for 45 laps before finishing second. Despite this success, internal politics and financial strain led to the firing of Newey and the departure of manager Ian Phillips.
In 1991, the team introduced the CG911 powered by Ilmor V10 engines. Reliability issues plagued the season, with Capelli retiring from the first nine races. In September 1991, Akagi was arrested in connection with a financial scandal involving Fuji Bank. To secure funding, Karl Wendlinger replaced Capelli for the final two races of the season.
Following Akagi's arrest, the team was sold to a consortium and reverted to the March name for 1992 to distance itself from the Leyton House controversy. Although the team attempted to continue into 1993 with drivers Jan Lammers and Jean-Marc Gounon, it folded early that year due to a lack of funds. The team's technical partnership with Ilmor eventually paved the way for Sauber to enter Formula One using the same engine architecture two years later.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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