1966 Trophée Craven 'A'
# 1966 Trophée Craven 'A'

The Trophée Craven 'A', was the fifth round of the 1966 Trophées de France. This was held on the Bugatti au Mans, located in Le Mans, Maine, France, on 18 September. The following July, the circuit was home to the 1967 French Grand Prix, of which all three drivers on the podium that afternoon – Jack Brabham, Denny Hulme and Jackie Stewart – raced in this event.

## Report

### Entry

Despite the continued domination by the Brabham Racing Developments team, a total of 22 F2 cars were entered for the event. However, five cars did not arrive for qualifying.

### Qualifying

Jack Brabham took pole position for the Brabham Racing Developments team, in a Brabham-Cosworth BT21, averaging a speed of 94.007 mph, around the 4.4 kilometres (2.7 mi) course.

### Race

The race was held over 60 laps of the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit. Denny Hulme took the winner's spoils for the works Brabham team, driving their Brabham-Honda BT18. Hulme won in a time of 1hr 47:27.8mins., averaging a speed of 91.590 mph. Around 42 seconds behind was the second place car, driven by Frenchman, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, for the Matra Sports team in their Cosworth powered Matra MS5. The podium was completed by the second Frenchman, Eric Offenstadt, in a Lotus 44 of Ron Harris – Team Lotus, albeit one lap down.

## Classification

### Race Result

| Pos. | No. | Driver | Entrant | Car - Engine | Time, Laps | Reason Out |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1st | 4 | Denny Hulme | Brabham Racing Developments | Brabham-Honda BT18 | 1hr 47:27.8 | |
| 2nd | 18 | Jean-Pierre Beltoise | Matra Sport | Matra-Cosworth MS5 | 1hr 48:19.8 | |
| 3rd | 10 | Eric Offenstadt | Ron Harris - Team Lotus | Lotus-Cosworth 44 | 59 | |
| 4th | 14 | Jackie Stewart | Tyrrell Racing Organisation | Matra-Cosworth MS5 | 59 | |
| 5th | 38 | Richard Attwood | Midland Racing Partnership | Lola-Cosworth T61 | 58 | |
| 6th | 6 | Jim Clark | Ron Harris - Team Lotus | Lotus-Cosworth 44 | 55 | |
| DNF | 8 | Peter Arundell | Ron Harris - Team Lotus | Lotus-Cosworth 44 | 50 | fuel injection |
| DNF | 24 | Jochen Rindt | Roy Winkelmann Racing | Brabham-Cosworth BT18 | 38 | Throttle linkage |
| DNF | 12 | Graham Hill | John Coombs | Matra-BRM MS5 | 25 | Camshaft |
| DNF | 16 | Jacky Ickx | Tyrrell Racing Organisation | Matra-BRM MS5 | 22 | Electrical |
| DNF | 40 | Jean Guichet | Eric Offenstadt | Lola-BRM T60 | 8 | Piston |
| DNF | 2 | Jack Brabham | Brabham Racing Developments | Brabham-Cosworth BT21 | 5 | Engine |
| DNF | 20 | Jo Schlesser | Matra Sports | Matra-Cosworth MS5 | 3 | Gearbox |
| DNF | 30 | Bob Anderson | Bob Gerard – Cooper Racing | Cooper-Cosworth T82 | 0 | Accident |
| DNF | 36 | David Hobbs | Midland Racing Partnership | Lola-Cosworth T60 | 0 | Accident |
| DNF | 26 | Alan Rees | Roy Winkelmann Racing | Brabham-Cosworth BT18 | 0 | Accident |
| DNF | 28 | Trevor Taylor | Aurora Gear Racing | Brabham-Cosworth BT16 | 0 | Accident |
| Source: |||||||

* Fastest lap: Hulme, 1:45.0ecs. (93.738 mph)
