French GP 1964

French GP, 1964

The French GP was back at Rouen in 1964 and the battle between Jim Clark's Lotus and Dan Gurney's Brabham for dominance continued with Clark taking pole position and Gurney second. John Surtees was on the outside of the front row in his Ferrari while the second row featured Clark's team mate Peter Arundell and Jack Brabham in the second Brabham. The BRMs were not very competitive on this occasion with Graham Hill sharing the third row of the grid with Bruce McLaren's Cooper and Lorenzo Bandini in the second Ferrari.

There was no practice on the Saturday and so Mike Hailwood flew off to race in the Dutch TT at Assen (which he won). Unfortunately there was an airline strike that night and Hailwood had to drive through the night to be back at Rouen on race day at the wheel of his Reg Parnell Racing Lotus.

At the start of the race Clark went into the lead with Gurney and Surtees chasing him. During the first lap McLaren spun to the back of the field. On the third lap Surtees dropped back with a split oil pipe and Graham Hill had a spin and so Clark and Gurney were left alone at the front with Brabham moving up into third. G Hill recovered from his spin and worked his way back up to fourth place by lap 24. Seven laps later Clark's engine failed him and so Gurney was left in the lead with Brabham a long way behind and G Hill closing fast on the Australian. On lap 37 Hill overtook Brabham but Jack stayed with him and the two were separated by less than a second at the finish. Brabham might have been frustrated but as Gurney had just won the team its first World Championship victory it was a good day for the team.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 22 Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax BT7 57 2h07m49.100s  2 
2 8 Graham Hill BRM P261 57 2h08m13.200s  6 
3 20 Jack Brabham Brabham-Climax BT7 57 2h08m14.000s  5 
4 4 Peter Arundell Lotus-Climax 25 57 2h08m59.700s  4 
5 10 Richie Ginther BRM P261 57 2h10m01.200s  9 
6 12 Bruce McLaren Cooper-Climax T73 56  7 
7 14 Phil Hill Cooper-Climax T73 56  10 
8 6 Mike Hailwood Lotus-BRM 25 56  13 
9 25 Lorenzo Bandini Ferrari 158 55  8 
10 34 Chris Amon Lotus-BRM 25 53  14 
11 28 Maurice Trintignant BRM P57 52  16 
12 19 Bob Anderson Brabham-Climax BT11 50  15 
r 16 Innes Ireland BRP-BRM MK 1 31 Spin 11 
r 2 Jim Clark Lotus-Climax 25 31 Engine 1 
r 24 John Surtees Ferrari 158 6 Engine 3 
r 18 Trevor Taylor BRP-BRM MK 2 6 Brakes/ Accident 12 
r 30 Jo Siffert Brabham-BRM BT11 4 Clutch 17 
ns 36 Peter Revson Lotus-BRM 25  Car Raced By Hailwood 18