Manny Franco (racing driver)

Manuel "Manny" Franco is an American auto racing driver who currently competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Conquest Racing.

Franco's racing career began in 2021 entering late in the Ferrari Challenge North America season. Competing in the Coppa Shell category, he would find quick success in his first race weekend at Road America, winning on his debut race and finishing 2nd shortly after. Despite competing in only four races, Franco would finish 8th in the Coppa Shell championship.^[1]

Franco would find further success in 2022. Now competing for overall victory, Franco achieved five wins en route to a second-place finish in the championship, finishing only one point behind Jeremy Clarke in what would be his most successful season to date.^[2]

Franco's involvement in Ferrari Challenge North America would decrease in the seasons following, but he would still finish 5th place in the 2023 season on a part-time schedule^[3], and he'd win two of his four races in the 2025 season.^[4]

A year after his debut, Franco would step up to GT3 racing with Conquest Racing, participating in the Sebring rounds of the 2022 GT World Challenge America season. Partnered with Alessandro Balzan in the Pro class, he would finish 4th^[5] and 2nd^[6] in the respective races, marking his first podium in GT3 machinery.

Franco would return full-time for the 2023 season, continuing to partner with Balzan in the Pro class. The two of them would win both races of the Road America round, which wound up being the first victories of the Ferrari 296 GT3 on North American soil.^[7] They would eventually finish 5th in the overall Pro class championship.^[8]

On September 7th, 2023, it was announced that Franco would move up to the IMSA SportsCar Championship as a part of Conquest Racing's return to full-time IMSA competition with Albert Costa in GTD for the 2024 season.^[9] He'd once again find quick success with a 3rd place class finish on debut at the 2024 24 Hours of Daytona. Him and Costa achieved their second podium of the year at the 2024 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen with a 2nd place class finish. At the 2024 Petit Le Mans, Franco and Costa would win in GTD, marking Franco's first, and so far only, win in IMSA competition. The strong result would cap off a 4th place finish in the GTD championship for them both.^[10]

Franco returned with Conquest Racing for the 2025 season, this time partnered with Daniel Serra.^[11] His sophomore campaign in IMSA wouldn’t yield results as successful as the previous year, however the two would still reach the GTD podium three times. At the 2025 Petit Le Mans, Franco was involved in a multi-car incident on the first lap, causing him to be transported to a local hospital. He would return to the team shortly afterwards without serious injury.^[12] Franco would finish the season 7th in the GTD championship.^[13]

Franco will race with Conquest Racing in IMSA competition for the third straight year in 2026.^[14]

Franco was born in Milwaukee and resides in the nearby suburb of West Allis.^[9] He regards Road America as his home track but was unable to attend races there growing up. Instead, most of his exposure to racing was at the Wisconsin State Fair Park where he'd listen to cars at the Milwaukee Mile. He'd participate in track days prior to racing.^[15] Franco began his racing career after winning a $768 million Powerball jackpot in 2019.^[16]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)