Conquest Racing Announces Full-Season IMSA Entry In 2024

Conquest Racing has announced it will compete full-time in the 2024 IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship, entering the GTD class with Manny Franco in a Ferrari 296 GT3.

It will ring in the first full-season IMSA effort for a Ferrari customer GT team since 2018, and the first full-season effort in IMSA for Eric Bachelart’s Indianapolis-based team since 2012 – when Conquest were racing in the American Le Mans Series’ P2 class.

“We could not be more excited for this chapter,” the team said in a press release issued today. “This next step reflects Conquest Racing With Ferrari’s growth and dedication over the years, and we are greatly looking forward to seeing the levels of success we can achieve together in this series.”

At the helm of the team’s full-season effort is Franco, who made the step up to GT3 competition towards the end of last year with Conquest Racing before going full-time in the 2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge America series. A native of West Allis, Wisconsin, Franco won both races in GT World Challenge America’s visit to Road America this year, alongside two-time IMSA GTD champion Alessandro Balzan. In doing so he gave the Ferrari 296 GT3 its first overall win in a major American sports car race.

Franco only started racing in 2021, but he has quickly risen through the ranks of Ferrari Challenge North America, GT4 America, and IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge along the way.

“I’m extremely proud and excited for this next chapter with Conquest Racing for the upcoming 2024 IMSA season,” said Franco. “I have learned a great deal over the past few years with the team from racing in a variety of different series and championships, and I’m greatly looking forward to what lies ahead for us as we prepare for this challenge.”

“To be driving the Ferrari 296 GT3 at this level of competition is a big opportunity, and one that we are ready for.”

Outside of sports car racing, Conquest Racing is best known for its involvement in major American open-wheel racing. From 2002 to 2011 the team was a perennial presence on both sides of the IndyCar/Champ Car split, and in the years following reunification in 2008. David Heinemeier Hansson, Martin Plowman, Jan Heylen, Tomas Scheckter, Bertrand Baguette, João Paulo de Oliveira, and the legendary Justin Wilson are just a number of the drivers who’ve raced for Conquest over the years, in single-seaters and sports cars.

“This is a big step for us and it reflects our growing commitment with Ferrari and Manny’s ongoing development as a racing driver,” said Bachelart. “We have been working with Manny since his racing debut back in 2021 and I am very proud of the way he has evolved as a driver in such a short period of time. This program also represents the ultimate upper echelon of our Ferrari ladder system as we’ve progressed from our Ferrari Club Challenge and Ferrari Challenge participation, to now even larger implications.”

“We could not be happier to be joining the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Championship and to be a part of the success of the series.”

Franco’s co-driver, as well as plans for continued participation in GT World Challenge America, will be announced at a later date.

Feature image © SRO Motorsports Group America