(Le Mans, France) - Emmanuel Crouvisier, the remarkable young French-American, has once again impressed by finishing on the podium in Le Mans after starting from 10th on the grid! After a promising performance two weeks ago at Val de Vienne and missing out on the podium by just one position, Crouvisier proved that the showing was not a fluke by finishing in 3rd place on Sunday, just behind Brice Aracil and Loïc Duval, the current championship leader.

Qualifying on Saturday morning was particularly difficult for all of the drivers, as the rain from the previous day left a wet track which was progressively dried as the sessions went on. With only 7 attempts to post a quick lap, Crouvisier was a bit too cautious in the first session, and consequently qualified 8th for the first race. With nothing to lose in the second session, he quickly improved, and in his final qualifying run, while 1.5 seconds ahead of his previous lap which would have been good enough for 4th place on the grid, Ulric Amado spun in the last corner, thus blocking the track and forcing Crouvisier to lose his advantage. With the checkered flag waving on the other side of the incident, Crouvisier was out of chances to capitalize on his quick pace, and was thus relegated to starting the second race in 10th place.

The sun had completely dried the track by the start of the first race, and after another quick start, Crouvisier quickly slotted himself into 6th place. Having completed significantly less testing on the track during pre-season testing than his other competitors, he was unable to keep the pace with the leading five cars, and soon found himself all alone on the track, with a large gap in front and behind him as he drew away from the rest of the group. In order to maximize his chances for the second race, Crouvisier used the race laps to continue mastering the dry track, which would ultimately prove quite beneficial. The race proved quite uneventful for Crouvisier, and retained his 6th place to the finish.

The second race, on the other hand, was one of the most memorable of Crouvisierﾒs career. Starting from 10th on the grid, he once again made an impressive start, and was already up two positions by the end of the first lap. Crouvisier quickly caught and passed Romain Despres, and when contact between Malo Olivier and Julien Poncelet forced the latterﾒs car into retirement with suspension damage, Crouvisier gained another position by the end of the second lap. Now running in 6th, Crouvisier continued to reel in the five leaders, passing Vincent Cassaignau in the fourth lap to move up to 5th. Florent Tafani and Olivier were just ahead, battling for the podium position, and when Tafani made a mistake in the eighth lap, Crouvisier immediately capitalized by taking over his place in the battle. Crouvisier continued to pressure Olivier for the next two laps, until finally passing the young Frenchman going into the Dunlop chicane, thus taking over the final podium position. With no cars just in front to block him, Crouvisier closed the gap to the two leaders, but was unable to catch them before the end of the race two laps later. Several minutes after the end of the race, he found himself climbing atop the last step of the podium for the first time this season to the cheers of the fans and mechanics down below. Certainly a memorable moment for the young driver, and one which he hopes to repeat several times in the last six races of the season. Just after the trophy presentation, Crouvisier commented, ﾓI am absolutely ecstatic. I really didnﾒt think a podium finish was possible today after starting back in 10th place, but after spending the greater part of the first race trying different things on the track and analyzing the data after the race, I was able to match the pace of the leaders. Fortunately, everything came together today, and after several awesome battles with the other drivers, I was able to work my way through to pick up third place just before the end of the race. Now that Iﾒve achieved this goal, the next step is of course a win!ﾔ With a particular fondness of the Nogaro racetrack, the location of the next race in the end of September, the goal is certainly not an unreasonable one.

After the weekendﾒs stellar performance, Crouvisier has once again picked up another position in the championship standings, and now finds himself 7th. With the 3rd and 4th place drivers earning very few points this weekend, the battle for 3rd place is now closer than ever, with 5 drivers seriously in contention, including Crouvisier. Rendezvous at the end of September in Nogaro to see how much closer Crouvisier can get to the top!