Victor Franzoni in his first-ever Pro Mazda series event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. [John Wiedemann Photo]
Indianapolis—M1 Racing’s Victor Franzoni is behind the wheel and moving forward…fast.
Nineteen year old Franzoni put on a show in his first-ever Pro Mazda series event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, executing a brilliant pass in the “S” curves of the road course, then cleverly breaking the draft of two cars following him down the front straightaway at Indy.
The future is bright for this Sao Paolo, Brazil native, who followed in his father’s footsteps in karting before breaking into the junior leagues of open-wheel racing in 2013 in Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup.
Since then he has been hard to hold back, winning the 2014 St. Petersburg USF 2000 race and eventually earning four other podium finishes for the season. In 2015 alone he’s won a race already (NOLA Motorsports Park) and finished second in another (Barber Motorsports Park).
Franzoni posted the fastest Pro Mazda time in practice on Thursday afternoon, a lap of 1:24.683, ahead of Friday’s fifth-place finish.
All of this his first time in the car with wheels turning in anger.
“It’s good,” he said afterwards. “The car is fast and it’s good to learn and to progress in the series.”
If this sounds like a child prodigy, then rest assured it is: Victor started karting at 4, went to Europe at 16, and now before his twentieth birthday is racing on the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“Indianapolis is my favorite track,” he said of the 14-turn, 2.5 mile road course in the infield of the giant oval super-speedway. “And there is always a great atmosphere here, with the fans, the city. Everyone is so supportive. It’s incredible.”
M1 Racing’s team owner Paul Mata has been involved in Pro Mazda since 2004, and has an even longer history as a supplier of parts for the series.
He raves about Franzoni’s talent and professionalism.
“He’s amazing,” said Mata late Friday. “He has the ‘it’ factor, the real deal.”
Mata has a particular appreciation for Franzoni’s technical ability in helping set up the car.
“He is very detailed, his input is very good in helping prep the car for racing,” he said.
Franzoni has some experience over the course in the past, taking a third-place finish in the USF 2000 race over the same circuit in 2014. Still, it’s a big step up in competition and something he doesn’t take for granted.
“I started in USF at the beginning of the year, now I’ve moved up to Pro Mazda today,” he said. “It wasn’t a hard decision. I have had lots of help,” he said citing Jay Horak of AutoEngenuity as an influence on his rapidly-progressing development as a racer.
Franzoni now resides in Boca Raton, FL where he coaches young kart drivers. He also collects and interprets the telemetry to help them improve. As good as he is personally behind the wheel, his teaching talent is even better: his two most recent students took first and second in their category at 7 years of age.
At the rate he’s going it won’t take long for him to reach his goal behind the wheel of an IndyCar.
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