(Spa, Belgium) ﾖ American Emmanuel Crouvisier had exactly the sort of weekend he was hoping for at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium for the penultimate round of the 2003 Formula Palmer Audi championship. Running as high as 2nd in the first race, he would ultimately finish just outside of the podium in 4th place following a late-race charge by championship leader Adam Smith. The strong showing propelled Crouvisier up the incredibly tight championship standings, looking set to finish in the top four in only his first year of racing in Formula Palmer Audi.

The weather was truly treacherous throughout the entire weekend, and while all of the practice sessions were held in the rain, the track began to quickly dry just before the start of the first qualifying session. Crouvisier analyzed the situation, and decided that it would be best to forego several laps in the short session to switch to slick tires. The gamble paid off, though Crouvisier was only able to complete two laps in the drying conditions, to qualify 8th. The second session was entirely in the dry, which is when Crouvisier noticed a terrible handling problem with the car. Unfortunately, the skies opened up after only four laps, thus bringing the session to an early end and keeping Crouvisier from being able to fix the handling of the car.

The first race was held Saturday afternoon under torrential conditions, in which Crouvisier's talents truly shined, allowing him to pass most of the field and slot into 2nd place just a few laps into the race. Unfortunately, a problem with the front left rotor was getting worse and worse as the race carried on, eventually letting Stephen Young and Adam Smith to get by, leaving Crouvisier to finish just behind them, in 4th place, his best finish of the year.

The second race was entirely dry however, and the problem which was discovered during the dry qualifying session proved to be Crouvisierﾒs undoing. After a stunning start, and running as high as 7th after the first two laps, Crouvisierﾒs car was up to 10mph slower in the slow sections of the course, but just as fast through the quick sections. The time lost in the slow sections proved to be too much for Crouvisier to defend against, and with the problem getting worse as the race wore on, he lost place after place, until the checkered flag was finally waved as he crossed the line in 11th place.

While the second race was a huge let-down for Crouvisier after his strong performance in the first, it served as testimony to his true abilities when not handicapped with lack of track knowledge, as has been the case for all of the other events this year besides Monza.