Marino Franchitti

Franchitti began racing in the mid-1990s in the lower categories of single-seaters before switching to sports cars in 2001. That year he competed in the GTO class of the British GT Championship driving a Porsche 996 GT3 RS for DD Racing, winning eight class victories and taking the GTO class title. In 2002 he joined his brother in North America, competing in Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series, winning one race in LMP 675 class and collecting three further podiums.

In 2003 Franchitti finished fourth in class at the Le Mans 1000km driving a Ferrari 360 GT. The following year he took pole position at the 12 Hours of Sebring in an LMP 670 Lola-Nissan. In 2005 he made his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut with Panoz Motor Sports in a Panoz Esperante GT-LM in the GTLM class, retiring from the race.

The 2006 season was productive across two championships. Racing for Scuderia Ecosse in a Ferrari 430 GT2 in the FIA GT Championship, Franchitti won the round at Adria Raceway outright, finished third at the 24 Hours of Spa, and took pole position at another round. He also finished second in GT2 class at Petit Le Mans that year. In 2007 Franchitti signed a full-time drive with Andretti Green Racing in the ALMS LMP2 class, sharing an Acura with Bryan Herta.

In 2008 Franchitti moved to Dyson Racing, driving a Porsche RS Spyder alongside Butch Leitzinger. Their best result was second at the 12 Hours of Sebring. He remained at Dyson for 2009, where driving a Lola-Mazda he and Leitzinger won at Lime Rock Park and at Petit Le Mans, finishing the season as vice-champions in LMP2 in the ALMS.

In 2010 Franchitti joined Patron Highcroft Racing and contributed to the team winning the ALMS Teams' Championship in the LMP2 class. Alongside David Brabham and Simon Pagenaud, he won Petit Le Mans, took pole position at the 12 Hours of Sebring — where the car eventually finished second — and achieved his best Le Mans result to that point, finishing 25th overall and ninth in LMP2 class driving an Acura alongside Brabham and Marco Werner. The following year Franchitti appeared in limited events and again finished second overall at the 12 Hours of Sebring, co-driving once more with Pagenaud and Brabham.

A planned programme with the Peugeot LMP1 factory team was cancelled before it began. Instead, in 2012 Franchitti served as a race and development driver for the Nissan DeltaWing project, an unconventional narrow-track prototype. The car started the 24 Hours of Le Mans but retired on lap 75 after being struck by another competitor. He also drove for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports in selected ALMS events that year, winning at Mid-Ohio.

Franchitti drove the Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX-03b alongside Scott Tucker, Ryan Briscoe, and Guy Cosmo in 2013. In the ALMS LMP2 class he contributed to five wins from ten races, helping the team to the class championship, though he finished fourth in the drivers' standings individually. The team also entered Le Mans, but the car did not complete sufficient laps to be classified.

The 2014 12 Hours of Sebring was the career highlight for Franchitti. Driving for Chip Ganassi Racing in a Riley DP alongside Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett, the car won the race outright — one of the most important endurance races in North America. Franchitti also raced at Daytona that year in the same Chip Ganassi entry, and made GT Daytona class appearances with Fall-Line Motorsports in an Audi R8 LMS.

In 2015 Franchitti took a class victory at the Nurburgring 24 Hours, sharing a Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus SCG 003C with David Jahn, Franck Mailleux, and Manuel Lauck.

For 2016 Franchitti joined Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK for the full FIA World Endurance Championship season, driving the Ford GT in the GTE Pro class alongside Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell as car number 67. The season produced a second-place GTE Pro class result at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and ninth in GTE Pro class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The programme marked McLaren's return to Le Mans as a factory entrant with Ford's revived GT programme.

Franchitti raced in IMSA with Mazda Motorsports in 2017, appearing at the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 6 Hours of the Glen. In 2018 he joined Mazda Team Joest, recording a third-place class finish with the fastest lap at Petit Le Mans. Those appearances concluded his front-line racing career.

Franchitti is married to Holly Mason, daughter of Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, who is herself a racing driver competing in historic motorsport. In 2023 he portrayed Italian racing driver Eugenio Castellotti in Michael Mann's biographical film Ferrari.