BATTLE OF THE 1600cc SCREAMERS
1968 MEDITERRANEAN GP, ENNA-PERGUSA
9The trek to Sicily for the Mediterranean GP at superfast Enna-pergusa in 1968, the second year of 1600cc F2, deterred some as only 20 could race. But the field included Ferraris for Jacky Ickx, Derek Bell, Ernesto Brambilla and Mario Casoni. The
‘F1 clan’ present was Ickx, Jochen Rindt, Pedro Rodriguez and ‘rookie’ Piers Courage, who took pole in his Frank Williams-run Brabham.
Spreading the grid didn’t avert slipstreaming on this wide circuit. Nine soon got together as a tow could be felt from way back. Rindt took it easy, knowing which lap mattered, occasionally ‘testing the waters’ in second, and once dropped back to change goggles. Soon his Roy Winkelmann Racing Brabham was back with the lead pack, and Rindt knew how to lead at the critical point. Winning by a metre was as good as a mile.
Rindt had already shown this incredible racecraft at Hockenheim and Reims. The ‘Formula 2 king’, Courage, Brambilla and Regazzoni (Tecno) were each credited with identical race times, all within 0.1s. Rindt’s fastest lap also represented an average of 147mph, within 10% of Indianapolis at the time!