Early life

Although the Gancia

Gancia

Gancia is an Italian wine-making company. It was founded in 1850 by Carlo Gancia in the Piemonte region of Italy, and was a pioneer in creating the first Italian sparkling wine...

 family is famous as the owners of an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

-producing company (the founder of which is also called Carlo Gancia), Carlo Vallarino was born in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. His father, Piero Vallarino Gancia, was an amateur racing driver and later founded the Confederação Brasileira de Automobilismo, the national motorsport authority of Brazil.

After growing up in Brazil, Gancia graduated from the University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

 with a Master's degree

Master's degree

A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 in economics. He went on to work in several businesses in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

, Brazil, Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

 and Monaco

Monaco

Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...

.

Motorsport

Gancia was involved in motorsport

Motorsport

Motorsport or motorsports is the group of sports which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles, whether for racing or non-racing competition...

 from an early age, helping Brazilian Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 drivers such as Emerson Fittipaldi

Emerson Fittipaldi

Emerson Fittipaldi |São Paulo]], Brazil) is a Brazilian automobile racing driver who throughout a long and successful career won the Indianapolis 500 twice and championships in both Formula One and CART.-Early and personal life:...

, Carlos Pace

José Carlos Pace

José Carlos Pace was a racing driver from Brazil. He participated in 73 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on March 4, 1972. He won one race, achieved six podiums, and scored a total of 58 championship points...

 and Nelson Piquet

Nelson Piquet

Nelson Piquet Souto Maior , known as Nelson Piquet, is a Brazilian former racing driver. He was Formula One world champion in , and . He is one of eight drivers to win three or more world championships, the others being Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Ayrton Senna , Alain Prost , Juan...

 to obtain sponsorship. He also ran a go-kart factory which helped to start Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna da Silva was a Brazilian racing driver. A three-time Formula One world champion, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time...

's racing career. In addition, Gancia himself also raced at a competitive level, winning a series of Brazilian Touring car racing championships.

By 1992, Gancia was assisting Pedro Diniz

Pedro Diniz

Pedro Paulo Diniz is a racing driver from Brazil. He participated in 99 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on March 26, 1995...

's racing career, and met Italian Formula 3000 team owner Guido Forti

Guido Forti

Guido Forti is the former team manager of the now-defunct Formula One team Forti.-Career:Forti co-founded the team with businessman Paolo Guerci in the late 1970s, initially running in Italian and European Formula Three. The team made the step up to Formula 3000 in 1987, but only participated in...

. The two made a deal whereby Diniz drove for the Forti

Forti

Forti Corse, commonly known as Forti, was an Italian motor racing team chiefly known for its brief, and unsuccessful, involvement in Formula One in the mid-1990s. It was established in the late 1970s and competed in lower formulae for two decades...

 team in F3000 in 1993

1993 Formula 3000 season

The 1993 Formula 3000 International Championship was the ninth season of Formula 3000 in Europe. Olivier Panis won the championship after nine rounds.-Technical changes:...

 and 1994

1994 Formula 3000 season

The 1994 Formula 3000 International Championship was the tenth season of Formula 3000 in Europe. Jean-Christophe Boullion won the championship after eight rounds.-Technical changes:...

, and Gancia bought the shares of Guido Forti's original business partner, Paolo Guerci

Paolo Guerci

-Career:Guerci joined forces with retired racing driver Guido Forti to form the Forti racing team in the late 1970s. He remained with the team throughout its rise through Formula Three and Formula 3000, and eventually its unsuccessful foray into Formula One in and...

, 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

Forti FG01

The Forti FG01, also designated Forti FG01-95, was a Formula One car for the 1995 season and was the first car made by Forti. The number 21 seat was taken by rookie Pedro Diniz and the number 22 seat was taken by veteran Roberto Moreno. The team never employed a test driver. The engine was a Ford...

 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

Champ Car

Champ Car was the name for a class and specification of open wheel cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race...

 racing as an alternative.

When the Shannon Racing Team company arrived mid-season as a potential major sponsor, Gancia sold his shares and left the team. A few months later, an ownership dispute between Shannon and Guido Forti led to the team's collapse and withdrawal from F1.

Gancia currently works for Image Group, a São Paulo

São Paulo

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

-based company which promotes, markets and televises American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 open-wheel racing formulae such as the IndyCar Series

IndyCar Series

The IZOD IndyCar Series is the premier level of American open wheel racing. The current championship, founded by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George, began in 1996 as a competitor to CART known as the Indy Racing League . Citing CART's increasing reliance on expensive machinery and...

in Brazil.