MacNeil pondering risk vs reward at LM24

Cooper MacNeil's target in this, his fifth visit to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, is clear: standing on the podium shortly after 3 p.m. Sunday. Given that he is teaming with defending GTE-Am champions Scuderia Corsa and drivers Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler, that would seem to be a distinct possibility. But given his "checkered" history at la Sarthe, MacNeil might well be satisfied with simply starting the race with a full compliment of teammates.

Last year he was laid low by a bout of food poisoning, courtesy of a dish of poulet-gone-bad in a nearby restaurant, forcing ertswhile teammates Leh Keen and Marc Miller to go it alone in the WeatherTech Proton Racing Porsche. In that respect, the event mirrored a 2014 race that saw MacNeil and Jerod Bleekemolen play the ironmen in the Prospeed Competition Porsche after teammate Ben Curtis was concussed in a practice accident. What's more, given that the GTE-Am rules stipulate one of a car's drivers must be bronze-licensed and that Curtis had the only bronze license in the line-up, the team was forced to move up in class and compete as a GTE-Pro entry.. They proceeded to finish fifth in GTE-Pro – or first in the one car/two driver-GTE-Am-come Pro class.

"We felt pretty darned good about that," says MacNeil. "It was crazy. Every time I finished my stint, I'd debrief, grab a little something to eat and then try get some sleep. About the time I'd nod off, there'd be a knock on the door saying, 'Time to get back in the car.'"

With any luck, all three drivers and their Weathertech Ferrari 488 GTE will start – and complete – the full 24 hours. Perhaps with 2014 in mind, MacNeil is cognizant of the fact that getting through practice and qualifying cleanly greatly enhances a team's chances of a largely trouble-free 24 hours race and, by extension, a spot on the post-race podium. So he is unfazed by the fact that the WeatherTech Ferrari is squarely in the middle of the GTE-Am qualifying sheets after the first of three qualifying sessions on Wednesday evening.

"There are 16 cars in the class here, nine of them are Ferraris," he says. "I guess that should tell you something. The car is very fast in a straight line, it's nimble, you can run quick times very consistently, the tires are awesome and the car just seems to adapt to changes. At the test we didn't make any setup changes, not even a bar change and, straight out of the box – Boom! – fastest Ferrari.

"Qualifying for this race really doesn't matter," he continues. "Sure there's bragging rights, but that only lasts a day and then it's more of a case of staying out of trouble the first few laps than where you start. So the idea is to run steady, clean, don't hit anything or anybody. Looking at the data, I'm a little down to Townsend and Bill in the Porsche Curves. So what? We turn-in flat at 150 mph. Do I breathe it a little or turn in flat just to turn in flat at this stage? It's not worth it. In the final hours racing for position, sure. But for now it's a case of risk versus reward."

The real reward will come Sunday if MacNeil can join Bell and Sweedler in a return to the Le Mans podium.

"To make it two in a row with these guys would be really satisfying although, for me personally, just being on the podium would be great," he says. "The podium at Le Mans has got to be one of the coolest things in racing. Obviously you want to win, and to be part of Bill and Townsend winning again would be great. So I guess we've got to keep the string going."

MacNeil will start by avoiding a certain restaurant in Le Mans. Chalk it up to risk versus reward.