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Cioci Excited About Freedom 100, Eyes Indy 500
By Joe Crowley
indyracing.com
Tuesday Apr 22, 2003
Marco Cioci quietly showed up April 18 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Infiniti Pro Series Open Test, ready for his first laps in a Pro Series car.
By the time he drove out of Gate 2 between Turns 1 and 2 at the end of the day, he looked like a Pro Series veteran, posting the fastest lap of the test, 188.133 mph.
Cioci, a veteran of European Formula 3000 who hails from Rome, will drive the No. 6 Sam Schmidt Motorsports Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone in the inaugural Freedom 100 on May 17 at the Speedway. During the test, he stamped his name on the list of contenders to win the historic first Infiniti Pro Series race at the Speedway.
But the question on many minds was very simple: Where did he come from and how did he end up here?
Well, besides his experience in Euro F3000, Cioci also passed the speed phase of his IRL rookie test in an IndyCarÔ Series car in December 2002 at Texas Motor Speedway.
“After my test in Dallas, I understood that this is the real motorsport,” Cioci said. “In Europe now, there are a lot of guys that drive only to say, ‘I’m a racecar driver.’ I don’t like this. In America, you drive because you have a big passion, and you are a real man. Only the best win, the ones that don’t make a mistake win, and I want to be one of them.”
And the race at the top of Cioci’s list is the Freedom 100, which will be his Infiniti Pro Series debut.
“A lot of people want to win the Freedom 100, ” Cioci said. “But maybe I want it a little more than other drivers. A lot of drivers are thinking of this race as a part of the championship. For me, it’s a great opportunity that Sam Schmidt (team owner) and Scott Cronk (agent) gave me, and I know that the finish of this could be everything. Maybe, someone would decide to help me again.
“So I’ll give 100 percent to win this race.”
The short-term goals for Cioci include a great performance in the Freedom 100, which could open doors for him the future. He hopes that future includes the Indianapolis 500.
“That’s for sure my goal,” Cioci said. “That’s why I’m here, because I want to learn more than is even possible. For me, it’s a big goal to drive in the 500 miles of Indianapolis. I know that it’s early to say this, but I want to win. I want to put my face on the (Borg-Warner) trophy.”
Cioci knows the only way to achieve his goal of winning the Indianapolis 500 is to learn as much as he can in the Freedom 100.
“After the test, I’ve become very impatient to learn as much as I can,” Cioci said. “How does a driver go 230 mph? I want to understand how a driver can go that fast because it’s a dream.”
He started his quest for knowledge by observing the Indianapolis 500 Rookie Orientation Program on April 21 at the Speedway.
“I went to the track to see how an IRL driver works with the engineer,” Cioci said. “I also went there to understand the line. It was the first time for me to see (IndyCar Series) cars at (IMS).”
While Cioci is spending a lot of time learning about IRL racing, he is also adapting to living in the United States, where he has resided for only about one month.
“My English is not very good, and everything is quite different from Europe,” Cioci said. “Fortunately, I have Scott Cronk and his family that help me a lot, and the Sam Schmidt team is very close to my apartment.”
Cioci, 27, admitted he spends a lot of time in the gym and by himself, but some of that is by choice.
“I’m too focused on the racing now,” he said.
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