# 1968 Tasman Series

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. The championship was open to Racing Cars fitted with non-supercharged engines with a capacity equal or inferior to 2500cc. It was the fifth annual Tasman Championship.
The championship won by Jim Clark, driving a Lotus 49T.
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 fifteen 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

| Round | 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 |
| New Zealand | 2 | Levin International | Levin | 13 January | Chris Amon | Dino 246 Tasmania | C.Amon | Report |
| New Zealand | 3 | Lady Wigram Trophy | Wigram | 20 January | Jim Clark | Lotus 49T | Team Lotus | Report |
| New Zealand | 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 |
| Australia | 6 | Warwick Farm International | Warwick Farm | 18 February | Jim Clark | Lotus 49T | Team Lotus | Report |
| Australia | 7 | Australian Grand Prix | Sandown | 25 February | Jim Clark | Lotus 49T | Team Lotus | Report |
| Australia | 8 | South Pacific Trophy | Longford | 4 March | Piers Courage | McLaren M4A | P.Courage | Report |

## Points system

Points were awarded at each race on the following basis:
| Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Points | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Championship placings were determined by the total number of points scored by a driver in all races.

## Championship standings

| Pos | Driver | Car | Puk | Lev | Wig | Ter | Sur | War | San | Lon | Pts |
| 1 | Jim Clark | Lotus 49T Cosworth | Ret | Ret | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 44 |
| 2 | Chris Amon | Dino 246 Tasmania | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | Ret | 4 | 2 | 7 | 36 |
| 3 | Piers Courage | McLaren M4A Cosworth | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 34 |
| 4 | Graham Hill | Lotus 49T Cosworth | | | | | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 17 |
| = | Frank Gardner | Brabham BT23D Alfa Romeo | 2 | Ret | Ret | 3 | 9 | Ret | 4 | 3 | 17 |
| 6 | Bruce McLaren | BRM P126 | Ret | Ret | 5 | 1 | | | | | 11 |
| 7 | Pedro Rodríguez | BRM P126 BRM P261 | Ret | Ret | 6 | Ret | 10 | 6 | Ret | 2 | 8 |
| = | Denny Hulme | Brabham BT23 Cosworth | | | 3 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 9 | DNS | 8 |
| 9 | Jim Palmer | McLaren M4A Cosworth | 4 | 3 | 7 | 8 | | | | | 3 |
| 10 | Richard Attwood | BRM P126 | | | | | Ret | Ret | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| 11 | Leo Geoghegan | Lotus 39 Repco | | | | | 4 | Ret | 7 | DNS | 3 |
| = | Roly Levis | Brabham BT18 Ford | 8 | 4 | 8 | 10 | | | | | 3 |
| 13 | Kevin Bartlett | Brabham BT11A Coventry Climax | | | | | 5 | Ret | 8 | DNS | 2 |
| = | Red Dawson | Brabham BT7A Coventry Climax | Ret | 5 | 9 | DNS | | | | | 2 |
| = | Paul Bolton | Brabham BT22 Coventry Climax | 5 | Ret | Ret | | | | | | 2 |
| 16 | Graeme Lawrence | Brabham BT18 Ford | 6 | 9 | Ret | 9 | | | | | 1 |
| = | Bill Stone | Brabham BT6 Ford | 10 | 6 | 10 | Ret | | | | | 0 |
| — | Bryan Faloon | Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax | 7 | 7 | 13 | DNS | | | | | 0 |
| — | David Oxton | Brabham BT16 Ford | Ret | 10 | Ret | 7 | | | | | 0 |
| — | Glyn Scott | Lotus 27 Ford | | | | | 7 | 10 | | | 0 |
| — | Jack Brabham | Brabham BT21E Repco | | | | | 7 | Ret | | | 0 |
| — | John Harvey | Brabham BT11A Coventry Climax | | | | | | Ret | Ret | 8 | 0 |
| — | Frank Radisich | Lotus 22 Ford | | 8 | | DNS | | | | | 0 |
| — | Malcolm Aldred | Lotus 22 Ford | | | | | 8 | | | | 0 |
| — | Alfredo Costanzo | Elfin Mono Ford | | | | | | 8 | | | 0 |
| — | John Nicholson | Lotus 27 Ford | 9 | | | DNS | | | | | 0 |
| — | Ian Ferguson | Lotus 27 Ford | | | | | | 9 | | | 0 |
| — | John McCormack | Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax | | | | | | | | 9 | 0 |
| — | Ken Smith | Lotus 41 Ford | 12 | DNS | 11 | Ret | | | | | 0 |
| — | Don MacDonald | Brabham BT10 Ford | 11 | | 12 | DNQ | | | | | 0 |
| — | Graham McRae | Brabham BT6 Ford | | Ret | 14 | Ret | | | | | 0 |
| — | Peter Yock | Lotus 33 BRM | Ret | Ret | DNQ | Ret | | | | | 0 |
| — | Vince Anderson | Brabham BT11A Coventry Climax | Ret | | | | | | | | 0 |
| — | Grahame Harvey | Brabham BT6 Ford | | | | Ret | | | | | 0 |
| — | Greg Cusack | Brabham BT23 Repco | | | | | Ret | Ret | Ret | DNS | 0 |
| — | Brian Page | Brabham BT6 Ford | | | | | Ret | Ret | | | 0 |
| — | Max Stewart | Rennmax Ford | | | | | | Ret | | | 0 |
| — | Fred Gibson | Brabham Coventry Climax | | | | | | Ret | | | 0 |
| — | Mel McEwin | Lotus 32B Coventry Climax | | | | | | | | Ret | 0 |
| — | Tony Batchelor | Brabham BT6 Ford | | | | DNS | | | | | 0 |
| Pos | Driver | Car | Puk | Lev | Wig | Ter | Sur | War | San | Lon | Pts |
| Colour | Result |
| Gold | Winner |
| Silver | Second place |
| Bronze | Third place |
| Green | Points finish |
| Blue | Non-points finish |
| Blue | Non-classified finish (NC) |
| Purple | Retired (Ret) |
| Red | Did not qualify (DNQ) |
| Red | Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) |
| Black | Disqualified (DSQ) |
| White | Did not start (DNS) |
| White | Withdrew (WD) |
| White | Race cancelled (C) |
| Blank | Did not practice (DNP) |
| Blank | Did not arrive (DNA) |
| Blank | Excluded (EX) |