Gian Paolo Dallara (born 16 November 1936) is an Italian businessman and motorsports engineer. He is the owner of

Dallara Dallara is an Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Gian Paolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' Melegari (Parma), Italy he created "D ...

Motorsports, a company that develops racing cars.

Biography

Dallara was born in

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

Automotive and motorsport

He graduated from

Politecnico di Milano The Polytechnic University of Milan () is the largest technical university in Italy, with about 42,000 students. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and higher education courses in engineering, architecture and design. Founded in 186 ...

, majoring in aeronautical engineering. He joined

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

in 1960, and next year moved to

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...

. In 1963 he was hired by

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi. Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) ...

as their chief designer, where he (along with

Paolo Stanzani Paolo Stanzani (20 July 1936 – 18 January 2017) was an Italian mechanical engineer and automotive design Automotive design is the process of developing the appearance (and to some extent the ergonomics) of motor vehicles - including auto ...

, and Bob Wallace) designed the chassis of the Lamborghini Espada and Miura. In 1969 he started to design race cars for Frank Williams, founder and manager of the Williams

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

team. In 1972, Dallara founded and established Dallara Automobili in Parma, Italy. Starting from 1974, Dallara and his company started designing a

car, the Iso-Marlboro IR, for the Williams Team. Another project included designing a race car to

Formula 3 Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One driv ...

standards. This resulted in victories in Italy, France, England, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, United States, Russia, and Austria. In 1997, Dallara and his company expanded into IndyCar racing, with many victories from 1998 until 2003. Since 2007, Dallara has been the single chassis supplier for IndyCar. Dallara branched out into F1 projects in the mid-1990s, and at the end of 1998, Honda, considering a return to F1 as a constructor, called on Dallara to design their new F1 chassis. Honda later cancelled the project. Bizzarrini Lamborghini Dallara

Beginning in 2000, after the cancellation of the Honda project, Dallara embarked on a new project. He and his team were to build a race car for French team

Oreca ORECA (Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles) is a French racing team and race car constructor, founded in 1973 and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS. Oreca has had success in many areas of motorsport. ...

, in the

Le Mans series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

. In the August 2004, it was announced that Dallara and his team were signed by

Alex Shnaider Alexander Yevseyevich Shnaider (russian: Алекса́ндр Евсе́евич "А́лекс" Шнайдер; he, אלכסנדר (אלכס) שניידר; born 3 August 1968) is a Russian-born Canadian entrepreneur and former commodities tra ...

to build a chassis for the erstwhile Jordan team, Midland. Later, Dallara brought along Gary Anderson to handle this project. But by mid-2005, Dallara pulled out from the project. In 2009, Dallara and his team began a project building an F1 chassis for the new team,

Campos Grand Prix Campos Racing is a Spanish motor racing team, founded by former Formula One driver Adrián Campos. The team has been successful in Formula Three and the GP2 Series. History After retiring from racing, Campos formed his own team at the end of 19 ...

, known now as Hispania.

Association Football

In 2015 Dallara became investor in the phoenix club Parma Calcio 1913 along with

Guido Barilla Guido Barilla (born 30 July 1958) is an Italian billionaire businessman, and the chairman of Barilla Group, the world's largest pasta company, which is 85% owned by Guido, a sister and two brothers. Early life Guido Barilla was born on 30 July 1 ...

and Mauro Del Rio.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dallara, Gianpaolo 1936 births Engineers from Parma Living people Polytechnic University of Milan alumni Lamborghini people Ferrari people Italian motorsport people Formula One designers Businesspeople from Parma