FACTOIDS
Full Name: Gaby dela Merced
Nickname: Gaby
Birthday: June 10 1985
Height: 5’7”
Hometown: Manila, Philippines
Sports: Car Racing
Profile
Do you actually make a living driving F3 cars?
That’s a very tricky question. Honestly, I think only 20 percent of professional drivers really make money from it. It’s hard in the sport I’m in because the more financial backup you get the more you get to improve your car so the expense is a never-ending cycle. So bottom line is, no!
Save for any windfall you get from sponsors or your parents, you must keep a regular job then?
Yes, I have a regular job. I work at the stock exchange as a portfolio manager. I don’t work the floor because I don’t have my license yet. I’m the one who decides where to put my clients’ money and stuff.
Where are you most often, at the bourse or at the course?
Racing takes up most of my time. Wait, let me correct that—getting sponsors takes up most of my time ha ha ha! Meetings and all that.
If we let you handle our stocks—not that we can ever have them—we’d be very nervous.
Well, the stock market is a 9 to 12 thing—it opens in the morning and closes at noon. So in the afternoon you more or less have control of your time, that’s when I can juggle meetings with sponsors and my other rackets—because I don’t just do stocks, there are other business ventures that I’m getting into right now.
