The 1968 South African Grand Prix, formally the 2nd AA Grand Prix of South Africa (Afrikaans: Tweede AA Suid-Afrikaanse Grand Prix), was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami Circuit on Monday 1 January 1968. It was race 1 of 12 in both the 1968 World Championship of Drivers and the 1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 80-lap race was won by two time World Drivers' Champion and 1965 Indianapolis 500 winner Jim Clark for Lotus-Ford after starting from pole position. The race is significant as not only the last Formula One race to be won by Clark, but also the last in which he ever competed, due to his fatal crash at the Hockenheimring in Germany three months later. At this race Team Gunston became the first Formula One team to paint their cars in the livery of their sponsors instead of national colours when they entered a private Brabham for John Love and an LDS for Sam Tingle.

This was also Mike Spence's final race, as he too was killed a few months later, while practising for the 1968 Indianapolis 500.

The first six slots on the grid were filled by either previous or future world champions. However the reigning champion, Denny Hulme, only started in ninth.

Clark broke many records during the weekend, such as leading the most Grands Prix (43), having the most laps led (1,943), having the most perfect weekends (11), achieving the most pole positions (33) and finally achieving 25 race wins, beating Juan Manuel Fangio's 11-year-old record.

Classification

Qualifying

The qualifying session was held on 31 December 1967.

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 4 Jim Clark Lotus-Ford 1:21.6 — 2 5 Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 1:22.6 +1.0 3 16 Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 1:22.7 +1.1 4 3 Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 1:23.0 +1.4 5 2 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 1:23.2 +1.6 6 7 John Surtees Honda 1:23.5 +1.9 7 10 Andrea de Adamich Ferrari 1:23.6 +2.0 8 8 Chris Amon Ferrari 1:23.8 +2.2 9 1 Denny Hulme McLaren-BRM 1:24.0 +2.4 10 11 Pedro Rodríguez BRM 1:24.9 +3.3 11 9 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 1:24.9 +3.3 12 6 Dan Gurney Eagle-Weslake 1:25.6 +4.0 13 12 Mike Spence BRM 1:25.9 +4.3 14 22 Dave Charlton Brabham-Repco 1:26.2 +4.6 15 15 Ludovico Scarfiotti Cooper-Maserati 1:26.3 +4.7 16 19 Jo Siffert Cooper-Maserati 1:26.4 +4.8 17 17 John Love Brabham-Repco 1:27.0 +5.4 18 21 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra-Ford 1:27.2 +5.6 19 20 Jo Bonnier Cooper-Maserati 1:27.3 +5.7 20 25 Basil van Rooyen Cooper-Climax 1:27.8 +6.2 21 14 Brian Redman Cooper-Maserati 1:28.0 +6.4 22 18 Sam Tingle LDS-Repco 1:28.6 +7.0 23 23 Jackie Pretorius Brabham-Climax 1:29.0 +7.4

Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 4 Jim Clark Lotus-Ford 80 1:53:56.6 1 9 2 5 Graham Hill Lotus-Ford 80 + 25.3 2 6 3 3 Jochen Rindt Brabham-Repco 80 + 30.4 4 4 4 8 Chris Amon Ferrari 78 + 2 Laps 8 3 5 1 Denny Hulme McLaren-BRM 78 + 2 Laps 9 2 6 21 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra-Ford 77 + 3 Laps 18 1 7 19 Jo Siffert Cooper-Maserati 77 + 3 Laps 16   8 7 John Surtees Honda 75 + 5 Laps 6   9 17 John Love Brabham-Repco 75 + 5 Laps 17   23 Jackie Pretorius Brabham-Climax 71 + 9 Laps 23   6 Dan Gurney Eagle-Weslake 58 Oil Leak 12   9 Jacky Ickx Ferrari 51 Oil Leak 11   20 Jo Bonnier Cooper-Maserati 46 Overheating 19   16 Jackie Stewart Matra-Ford 43 Engine 3   18 Sam Tingle LDS-Repco 35 Overheating 22   25 Basil van Rooyen Cooper-Climax 22 Engine 20   11 Pedro Rodríguez BRM 20 Fuel System 10   2 Jack Brabham Brabham-Repco 16 Engine 5   10 Andrea de Adamich Ferrari 13 Accident 7   12 Mike Spence BRM 7 Fuel System 14   14 Brian Redman Cooper-Maserati 4 Oil Leak 21   22 Dave Charlton Brabham-Repco 3 Differential 14   15 Ludovico Scarfiotti Cooper-Maserati 2 Water Pipe 15  

Notes

This was the Formula One World Championship debut for South African driver Basil van Rooyen and Italian driver Andrea de Adamich.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jim Clark 9 2 Graham Hill 6 3 Jochen Rindt 4 4 Chris Amon 3 5 Denny Hulme 2Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Ford 9 2 Brabham-Repco 4 3 Ferrari 3 4 McLaren-BRM 2 5 Matra-Ford 1Source:

References

Further reading

Walthert, Matthew (7 April 2015). "Going Out on Top: The Story of Jim Clark's Final Formula 1 Race". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 16 February 2016.