Italian Leads World Driving

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31085, 14 June 1966, Page 19

Italian Leads World Driving

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) FRANCOR CHAMPS. A young Italian racing driver, Lorenzo Bandini, broke what had become a British monopoly when he took over the lead in the drivers’ world championship, after coming third in the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday. It is Hie first time for many years that the leader has come from Italy, the country which once dominated the driving championship as Britain has in recent years. Bandini's 10 points come from the four he obtained for his third place in Sunday's

racing, and the six for his second place at Monaco. This puts him one point ahead of Sunday’s winner, John Surtees, who did not score at Monaco, and the Monaco victor, Jackie Stewart, who scored nothing on Sunday. The championship positions after Sunday's race are:— Bandini, 10 points; Stewart and Surtees, 9; J. Rindt, 6; G. Hill, 4; R. Bondurant and J. Brabham, 3. Surtees won the Grand Prix after a dramatic first lap which put eight of his 14 rivals out of the race. In a new three-litre Ferrari, he snatched victory from Jochen Rindt in a Cooper-Maserati. The Young Austrian, who led most of the way, was

slowed in the final few laps by mechanical trouble, and Surtees passed him with five laps to go. Stewart was the most serious victim of the first lap pileup caused when drivers suddenly encountered a part of the track made wet by rain. Stewart was rescued from his wrecked car by Graham Hill—who had also crashed—and taken to hospital. An X-ray showed Stewart had suffered a suspected broken shoulder. He was flown back to London. Phil Hill, who was driving a camera-equipped car, said: “In the Burneville bend, the road was wet by a shower, and most drivers realised it too late. •They started to skid and

there was a big mix-up. Many cars went off the road in all directions, in meadows and through fences. I managed to sneak through. “Further down the road, I saw Graham Hill’s B.R.M. going backwards. At that place, there was a car radiator in the middle of the road. It was not Hill’s.” Jack Brabham, in his new three-litre Brabham Repco, was just a fraction slower throughout than the first three cars. He finished fourth. Brabham drove steadily all the way and had no trouble. Denis Hulme, in the second Brabham, and present world champion, Jim Clarke, were both forced out with mechanical trouble on the first lap.