Cooper MacNeil is the driver of the WeatherTech/Porsche 997 in the American Le Mans Series GTC Class. MacNeil is the 2012 American Le Mans Series GTC Driver Champion. The 20-year-old is embarking on his first Le Mans 24 Hours, June 22-23, in the No. 70 Larbre Competition/WeatherTech Corvette LMGTE-AM. Team updates can be viewed on Facebook at WeatherTech Racing.

Race week at Le Mans is full of team meetings and appearances that are all a part of the great build up to the biggest endurance race in the world. Larbre was getting us up early and the driver teams on the 50 and 70 cars were doing stretching and calisthenics early to get the blood going.

The weather all week, including the June 9 test was just crazy. We would have several periods of rain, sun, rain again and then cold. Some of our guests were wearing hats and gloves in June.

On race day the warm-up is at 9 a.m. so you are up early getting ready. Then the race doesn’t start until 3 p.m. It makes a 24-hour race even longer and increases the anticipation throughout the day. I was the third man in the car at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Like in all racing, the competition level goes way up when the green flag drops. It was blowing sideways rain when I took over the 70 car. Jack Leconte, Larbre team boss, put Michelin intermediates on the car and off I went. About 20 minutes later, the sun came out, and I returned for my first set of slicks. What a difference. The Michelin tires are great. Combine their grip with the speed, handling and power of the Corvette and it didn’t take me long to drop seconds off my lap times. I was able to get in the low 4:09s. I took a very measured approach to my first stint, focusing on getting comfortable in the car and finding my line for the long race ahead. It was also the first time I was able to put in more than three laps at one time. A stint in the Corvette is about 45 minutes. That is a full tank of fuel, which is about 10 laps. We were doing double stints, and some triples.

I can’t go further without talking about the death of Allan Simonsen. Every racer knows the risk of driving at high speeds with 52 other competitors on the track, but we put that reality way in the back of our mind and lock it in a box. This sport requires total concentration. I didn’t know him personally, but he was a racing brother, and his passing is a true tragedy.

My second run started at 1 a.m. The excitement by this point is pretty high. I had done a double stint and was excited to get back out there. At night the rain had stopped, it was cool and the track was fast. The place really changes in the dark. The stretch along the Mulsanne straight is dark! You have to rely on muscle memory and the visual brake markers you found during the day – hoping they are still there at night. On my second stint at about 2 a.m. I got pushed to the outside of the turn in the Porsche Curves and was forced into the marbles and dirt when I had a lazy spin. I ended up facing the wall, without hitting the barrier. The Corvette has a specific sequence of buttons, a process, to get the car into reverse. I tried the sequence and it wouldn’t go into reverse gear. The course workers eventually pushed me back. Something happened with the clutch and it wasn’t shifting right. I was able to make it back to the pits. The Larbre guys did a great job to replace the clutch and get us back out.

At 4:30 a.m. my teammate Philippe Dumas had a moment and caused damage to the front and rear that required some more repairs. At Le Mans you have to complete 75% race distance to be classified as a finisher, so this now became the team goal going into the morning. A lot of credit goes to the Larbre team. The car ran great from that time to the finish at 3 p.m.

My remaining time is the car was spent carefully negotiating the weather and making sure to just have a clean mistake-free run the rest of the way. Seeing the car take the checker was a great feeling. We had been through the rigors of the race, and although we weren’t on the podium, we were all classified as finishers of a Le Mans 24-hour race.

I hope to do the race again. It was an experience that every driver dreams of during their career and I got to do it when I was just 20. Now, I return to my regular seat in the WeatherTech Porsche at Lime Rock on July 5 and 6 for the remainder of the American Le Mans Series schedule. I hope to repeat as driver champion of the GT Challenge Class this year.

Cooper MacNeil