car was the Belgian Porsche of Jean-Pierre Gaban, giving the 911 the first of many overall GT wins for the model. The final classified car, and the only British entry to finish, was the Austin-Healey Sprite in 15th. The Matra board was very satisfied with its new car's promising performance and therefore decided to expand its racing programme. Rico Steinemann, second-place winner and a former racing journalist went on, later in the year, to succeed Huschke von Hanstein as Porsche's Racing Manager. 1968 would be a terrible year for racing accidents. As well as the career-ending injuries to Willy Mairesse and Mauro Bianchi at this race, a number of other Le Mans veterans were killed or seriously injured over the racing season. These included Ludovico Scarfiotti (Rossfeld hillclimb), Jo Schlesser (French Grand Prix), Brian Redman (injured at Belgian Grand Prix), Mike Spence (Indianapolis), Chris Irwin (Nürburgring) and the great Jim Clark at Hockenheim. Circuit safety would become a greater and greater priority at Le Mans and in motor-racing in the next few years. Official results Finishers Results taken from Quentin Spurring's book, officially licensed by the ACO Class Winners are in Bold text. 'Note *: Not Classified because Insufficient distance covered. Did Not Finish Did Not Start Class Winners Note: setting a new Distance Record. Index of Thermal Efficiency Note: Only the top ten positions are included in this set of standings. Index of Performance Taken from Moity's book. Note: Only the top ten positions are included in this set of standings. A score of 1.00 means meeting the minimum distance for the car, and a higher score is exceeding the nominal target distance. Statistics Taken from Quentin Spurring's book, officially licensed by the ACO Fastest Lap in practice – J. Siffert, #31 Porsche 908 LH – 3:35.4secs; Fastest Lap – R. Stommelen, #33 Porsche 908 LH– 3:38.1secs; Winning Distance – Winner's Average Speed – Attendance – 300 000 International Championship for Makes Standings As calculated after Le Mans, Round 10 of 10 Citations References Armstrong, Douglas – English editor (1968) Automobile Year #16 1968-69 Lausanne: Edita S.A. Clarke, R.M. - editor (1997) Le Mans 'The Ford and Matra Years 1966-1974' Cobham, Surrey: Brooklands Books Clausager, Anders (1982) Le Mans London: Arthur Barker Ltd Laban, Brian (2001) Le Mans 24 Hours London: Virgin Books Moity, Christian (1974) The Le Mans 24 Hour Race 1949-1973 Radnor, Pennsylvania: Chilton Book Co Parker,