Early life The
Gancia family is famous as the owners of an
Italian wine-producing company (Carlo is named after the founder of the dynasty in 1850, called
Carlo Gancia). Carlo is the eldest of the 5th generation of Gancias. Carlo Vallarino was born in
Canelli,
Province of Asti, Italy, the son of Piero and Lulla Gancia Vallarino, with siblings Barbara Gancia Vallarino and Kika Rivetti. His father, Piero Gancia Vallarino, was an amateur racing driver, who in 1966 was the first Brazilian Motor Racing Champion, driving an alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Super, he was among the founders of the
Confederação Brasileira de Automobilismo, the national motorsport authority of Brazil. Piero was also the Owner of Team Jolly Gancia, who raced Alfa Romeos in Brazil. For Jolly Gancia drove Emilio Zambello (Piero's business partner), Carlos Pace, Emerson Fittipaldi, Wilson Fittipaldi, Ciro Cayres, Ubaldo C. Lolli, Marivaldo Fernandes, Totó Porto, Chico Lameirão, Celso Lara Barberis, among others. Jolly Gancia chief mechanic was Giuseppe Perego, a Milanese who had worked for Isotta Fraschini and Maserati, under Guerino Bertocchi. Perego's right-hand man was Spaniard Manolo Pazos Torres. Jolly Automóveis was founded in 1966 and became the importer for Brazil of Alfa Romeo and then of Lamborghini and in 1970 of Ferrari. After growing up in Brazil, Carlo studied in
Switzerland,
UK and in
San Diego, California where he obtained an
MBA. He went on to work in several businesses in
Saudi Arabia in construction, in Brazil in car dealerships and banking, in
Switzerland and
Luxembourg in banking and in
Monaco in financial services.
Motorsport Gancia was involved in
motorsport from an early age, helping Brazilians get into
Formula One, drivers such as
Emerson Fittipaldi,
Carlos Pace and
Nelson Piquet to obtain sponsorship. He also ran a go-kart factory which helped to start
Ayrton Senna's racing career. In addition, Gancia himself also raced at a competitive level, in a series of Brazilian Touring car racing championships. The two made a deal whereby Diniz drove for the
Forti team in F3000 in
1993 and
1994, and Gancia bought the shares of Guido Forti's original business partner,
Paolo Guerci, thus taking over the role of fundraising. Forti moved up to F1 in with Diniz as one of the team's drivers. Although Gancia had helped to secure a good budget, the
FG01 chassis was slow and unsuccessful. When Diniz broke his original three-year contract with the team by moving to
Ligier for , much of the sponsorship disappeared and Gancia looked towards
Indy Car racing as an alternative. ==References==