The 1968 Tasman Championship for Drivers was a motor racing series contested over eight races during January, February and March 1968, with four races held in New Zealand and four in Australia.[1] The championship was open to Racing Cars fitted with unsupercharged engines with a capacity equal or inferior to 2500cc.[1] It was the fifth annual Tasman Championship.
The championship won by Jim Clark, driving a Lotus 49T.[2]
It was the third and final Tasman Championship win for Clark who was killed in a Formula 2 crash on the ultra fast Hockenheim circuit in West Germany just over a month after the series concluded. Clark won the last of his twelve career Tasman Series wins when he won the 1968 Australian Grand Prix at the Sandown Raceway in Melbourne, only 0.1 seconds in front of the Dino 246 Tasmania of Chris Amon after a famous duel between the pair.
Reigning 1967 Formula One World Champion Denny Hulme finished equal seventh in the series in his Formula 2 Brabham with a best finish of third in Round 3 for the Lady Wigram Trophy, his first race of the series.
Schedule edit
| Round | Name | Circuit | Date | Winning driver | Winning car | Winning team | Report | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand |
1 | New Zealand Grand Prix | Pukekohe | 6 January |  Chris Amon
|
Dino 246 Tasmania | C.Amon | Report |
| 2 | Levin International | Levin | 13 January | Chris Amon
|
Dino 246 Tasmania | C.Amon | Report | |
| 3 | Lady Wigram Trophy | Wigram | 20 January |  Jim Clark
|
Lotus 49T | Team Lotus | Report | |
| 4 | Teretonga International | Teretonga | 27 January | Bruce McLaren
|
BRM P126 | Owen Racing Organisation | Report | |
| Australia | 5 | Surfers Paradise 100 | Surfers Paradise | 11 February | Jim Clark
|
Lotus 49T | Team Lotus | Report |
| 6 | Warwick Farm International | Warwick Farm | 18 February | Jim Clark
|
Lotus 49T | Team Lotus | Report | |
| 7 | Australian Grand Prix | Sandown | 25 February | Jim Clark
|
Lotus 49T | Team Lotus | Report | |
| 8 | South Pacific Trophy | Longford | 4 March | Piers Courage
|
McLaren M4A | P.Courage | Report | |
Points system edit
Points were awarded at each race on the following basis:[1]
| Position[1] | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points[1] | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Championship placings were determined by the total number of points scored by a driver in all races.[1]
Championship standings edit
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f The Tasman Championship for Drivers – Season 1968, 1968 CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, pages 66 to 69
- ^ IX South Pacific Trophy, www.tasman-series.com, as archived at web.archive.org
- ^ Tasman Series 1968, www.sergent.com.au (linked round results pages) Retrieved 22 November 2017
- ^ www.oldracingcars.com Retrieved 22 November 2017