Jacky Ickx's 10 greatest races

He may have never become a Formula 1 world champion, coming closest when he finished runner-up to Jochen Rindt 50 years ago in 1970, but Jacky Ickx's career isn't defined by that fact.

In addition to his eight world championship F1 wins, a remarkable CV that features two world sportscar titles in 1982 and '83 also includes six Le Mans victories and triumphs in events as disparate as the Bathurst 1000 (1977) and Paris-Dakar Rally (1983).

Narrowing down a list of his best drives and ranking them was no easy feat but, with a little help from the man himself, who turned 75 earlier this year, we've compiled his top 10.

10. 1972 German GP, Nurburgring

Ferrari 312B2
Started: 1st
Finished: 1st

Ickx was in dominant form on the occasion of his final grand prix victory. On pole by more than a second, he just made it through the first corner in the lead and was never headed over the course of the 14-lap race. His Ferrari 312B2 was three seconds clear by the end of the opening lap and he finished 48s ahead of team-mate Clay Regazzoni. Along the way, Ickx set a sequence of laps below the lap record.

"I was always comfortable at the Nurburgring," he says. "There are some tracks that are better for you than others. I can't say why, but maybe it is because I started out racing motorcycles. That gives you a certain sensitivity on the throttle and the brakes."

9. 1968 French GP, Rouen

Ferrari 312
Started: 3rd
Finished: 1st

A maiden grand prix victory for Ickx was notched up in the kind of conditions with which he will forever be associated. It rained heavily just as the cars were forming up on the grid and the new Ferrari driver would go on to claim the win by nearly a full lap.

Ickx jumped from third into the lead of the race after the start and would head the field for all but one lap. Pedro Rodriguez and John Surtees got ahead, before the conditions worsened again and the Ferrari simply drove away. In the four laps after retaking the lead, he pulled 39s on Rodriguez's BRM P133.

When Rodriguez retired, Ickx found himself a lap ahead of the Honda RA301 driven by Surtees, who'd been delayed with both a spin and a stop for a new set of goggles. The Brit subsequently unlapped himself, although the margin was still nearly two minutes at the flag.

"I saw that from the next town, Elbeuf, there were some dark clouds coming and I knew from racing at Francorchamps what those clouds meant," recalls Ickx. "I chose the Firestone rain tyre and I know my team-mate Chris [Amon] went for a kind of intermediate."

Contemporary reports indicate that Rodriguez and Surtees were both on dry-weather tyres, though admittedly still with grooves in the days before the introduction of slicks.

But Ickx says he looks back on the day of the first of his eight GP victories with little pleasure after the death of Jo Schlesser aboard the new Honda RA302.

"It could have been a lovely victory for a young guy driving for Ferrari, but Rouen 1968 will always mean the death of a talented driver," he says. "The fact that I won is of little consequence."

8. 1969 Le Mans 24 hours, Circuit de la Sarthe

Ford GT40
Started: 13th
Finished: 1st

Ickx played a starring role at Le Mans 1969 at the very start and the very finish. He famously walked rather than ran across the track to his waiting JW Automotive Ford GT40 in protest at the dangers of the echelon start procedure. Twenty-four hours later, he was involved in one of the most dramatic finishes in the history of the French enduro as he sealed the first of his six victories in the big race.

Ickx, who shared the Ford with Jackie Oliver, scrapped for the win with the Porsche 908LH driven by Hans Herrmann. The key to his victory was making sure he was ahead at Mulsanne Corner two-thirds of the way through the final lap. And that meant being behind as the cars sped onto the Mulsanne Straight.

"Whoever was behind would get the slipstream and be ahead at Mulsanne Corner," explains Ickx. "I knew I had to be behind out of Tertre Rouge."

Ickx got his tactics spot-on, or so he thought. The problem was there was no chequered flag at the end of what he believed was going to be the last lap.

There were still a few, scant seconds left on the clock. Ickx knew he had to do it all over again, but was concerned that he had showed his hand: "I was ahead out of Tertre Rouge, so I slowed down and pulled to the right. Hans followed me, so I put my indicator on. In the end I was going so slowly that he must have believed I was out of fuel. So he went, and then I went."

Now in the position he wanted to be, Ickx slung ahead of the Porsche co-driven by Gerard Larrousse into the tight right at the end of the straight and went on to take victory by an official margin of 120 metres.

7. 1967 German GP, Nurburgring

Matra MS5
Started: 18th
Finished: DNF

If anyone in the F1 paddock hadn't heard of Jacky Ickx, they most definitely had after he raced a Matra Formula 2 car in the 1967 German GP at the Nurburgring. So quick was he in the Tyrrell Racing Organisation entry that his qualifying mark would have put him third overall on the grid. Politics dictated, however, that the F2 machinery that routinely bulked out the grid at the 'Ring should form up behind their big brothers.

That didn't stop Ickx, who'd been a staggering 20s faster in qualifying than the next best F2, from screaming through the field. The little Matra even briefly held the outright lap record early in the race.

The Matra started 18th as the F2 pole winner and was up to 12th by the end of the opening lap. Ickx got the car as high as fifth before encountering a recalcitrant Jack Brabham. He subsequently lost out to Chris Amon before a fractured rose-joint in the suspension forced his retirement after 12 of 15 laps.

"I consider it is much easier to drive an F2 than an F1 at the Nurburgring," says Ickx today. "Maybe it was much harder to go flat in a more powerful F1 car. But it is fantastic to be young - you do not fear anything."

Ickx also points out that he knew the Nordschleife like the back of his hand after contesting the 1964 and 1965 Marathon de la Route contests, the 84-hour regularity run at the 'Ring that replaced the Liege-Rome-Liege Rally.

"When you have done 168 hours, even if it's shared between two drivers, you have learned the race track very well," he says. "It's like riding a bicycle: you don't forget."

He admits, however, that he did make an impression on the F1 grandees. Within weeks he was on his way to signing a contract with Ferrari for the following season.

6. 1968 Spa 1000KM, Spa-Francorchamps

Ford GT40
Started: 2nd
Finished: 1st

So far ahead at the end of the opening lap was Ickx that it was presumed the track was blocked behind him. Yet the half-minute margin he had built aboard the Gulf-liveried JW Automotive Ford GT40 at the start of the 1968 Spa 1000km World Championship for Makes round was no fluke.

The local hero had doubled that margin by the end of a second lap of the old Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps made up entirely of public roads. The whole field would be lapped - on a circuit measuring 8.76 miles - aboard the car he shared with Brian Redman in the space of 20 laps.

Ickx has an explanation for his mesmerising performance that goes beyond his renowned wet-weather prowess and familiarity with his home track. He was already in tune with the conditions after taking part - and winning - a touring car race aboard an ex-Alan Mann Ford Mustang ahead of the main event.

"When you are able to do a kind of warm-up, you know the conditions of the track, you know where to go," he says. "When I passed the line at the end of the first lap there was a silence. People were saying, 'What has happened to everyone else, has there been an accident?'"

The Porsche 907 that finished second in the hands of Jo Schlesser and Gerhard Mitter did briefly get back on the lead lap, but Ickx and Redman had restored their earlier advantage by the end the race.

5. 1971 Dutch GP, Zandvoort

Ferrari 312B2
Started: 1st
Finished: 1st

This was a battle involving two rainmasters in the first wet grand prix in three seasons. Ickx and Pedro Rodriguez swapped the lead back and forth as they ran away from the rest of the field on the Firestone wet-weather tyres that proved superior to the Goodyears.

Ickx had qualified his Ferrari 312B2 on pole and held the lead for the first eight laps. Rodriguez got his BRM P160 ahead at Tarzan and held the advantage to half distance. The Italian car was back ahead, but only briefly, on lap 29, before Ickx finally made it stick.

The Belgian would pull away into a 16-second lead before easing off in the final stages to take the flag eight seconds to the good.

"A win is a win, but some are more valuable than others," offers Ickx. "It is the quality of your opponents who create the glory. We say in French that when you win too easily, you win without glory."

4. 1969 German GP Nurburgring

Brabham BT26
Started: 1st
Finished: 1st

A recovery drive from "the worst start I ever made" yielded Ickx his second grand prix victory and the first of two during his season-long sojourn with Brabham between his two stints at Ferrari.

"I think at corner number one I was seventh - almost half the grid passed me," says Ickx. "What happened I don't remember, but obviously it was something bad."

Fourth by the end up lap one, Ickx was up to second behind Jackie Stewart's Matra, which he had beaten to the pole by three tenths, in the space of three laps.

A new lap record followed as the Brabham driver closed down a nine-second deficit. Ickx had two attempts at passing a driver on course for the world championship on lap seven and then lowered his own record further as he tried to build a gap.

Stewart briefly closed on Ickx, before the intervention of the gearbox problems that would eventually leave him a minute behind at the flag.

"It was fantastic to have Jackie in front of you at that time," recalls Ickx. "It was motivating, because he was the man to beat. I understand he had gearbox problems, but to me that is a detail. I think that day with or without his gearbox issues, he could not have resisted me."

3. 1982 Brands Hatch 1000km, Brands Hatch

Porsche 956
Started: 6th
Finished: 1st

Ickx finally became a world champion after his 1970 F1 near-miss when he sealed the World Endurance Championship title at the eleventh hour at Brands Hatch in 1982. So late, in fact, that he didn't initially realise that his pursuit of the victory he needed together with Derek Bell in their Rothmans Porsche 956 had been successful.

The confusion was caused because this was a two-part race after an early stoppage resulting from an accident in heavy rain. Ickx started his final run 68s behind the Lancia LC1 Group 6 car with Teo Fabi at the wheel. He needed to finish within 4.6s, the Porsche's margin over the Italian car at the initial red flag, to claim the title from Fabi's co-driver, Riccardo Patrese.

The drama was only intensified by the fading light and a decision from race control to end the race before full distance. The reason was that not all the cars - the Lancias included - were equipped with the necessary lights to run into darkness. Ten laps' warning would be given of the early halt and, when the call came, Ickx still trailed Fabi by 14.6s.

The Porsche took the flag just 1.7s in arrears after a frantic charge that was almost undone when Ickx was badly baulked by a backmarker three laps from home. But he was still behind, which explained his initial confusion.

"Lancia finished believing they had won and I finished believing I had lost," remembers Ickx. "I had forgotten about those first 19 laps.

"I went flat-out. Normally you are at 98% or 99%, but there are some days when you are over 100%. It was the same type of race as Le Mans in 1977. When you talk about the race of your life, that was definitely one of them."

2. 1974 Race of Champions, Brands Hatch

Lotus 72E
Started: 11th
Finished: 1st

Victory in the Race of Champions non-points F1 race in 1974 is held up by Ickx as one of his most special wins. The reason is that he overtook Niki Lauda's Ferrari around the outside of Paddock Hill Bend to claim the win.

The Lotus driver had qualified only 11th, but in horribly wet conditions he was up to third by the end of lap two. The Goodyear wets that the top-six finishers all used were superior to the Firestones, though both contenders for the win weren't without their issues. Ickx had to endure a slightly sticking throttle, while a rubber bump-stop on the Ferrari's suspension failed over the course of the race.

Third became second when Ickx passed Emerson Fittipaldi's McLaren. The lead of the race followed with 12 of the 40 laps to go thanks to his famous move at Paddock.

"At Paddock you go to the apex and leave the outside wide open," he recalls. "That day I felt comfortable and had grown some little wings because I could smell victory. I made something happen."

Ickx reveals that he had actually made an attempt at Paddock on the previous lap. His luck, he reckons, was that Lauda didn't see him in the spray.

"Maybe if he had seen me, he would have changed his line," he says. "But I must say that was a good overtake. It means something because I was passing a good one, a future world champion."

1. 1977 Le Mans 24 Hours, Circuit de la Sarthe

Porsche 936
Started: 3rd/7th
Finished: 1st

This was the greatest Le Mans performance of one of the masters of the French enduro. Ickx led an amazing comeback by Porsche to claim victory in a race that looked lost in the early hours.

Henri Pescarolo had trailed into the pits with a blown engine in their Porsche 936 Group 6 car with less than four hours on the clock. The Belgian then swapped to the sister car of Hurley Haywood and Jurgen Barth, which itself had lost 28 minutes with fuel-injection problems. When Ickx left the pits at 8.21pm, the car was eight laps down in 41st position.

What followed has to stand as the most amazing comeback in Le Mans history as Porsche vanquished the multi-million-franc Alpine-Renault operation. Three hours after starting his stint, Ickx brought the car into the pits in sixth position, having set a new lap record and lost four kilos in bodyweight. Just 90 minutes later, he was back at the wheel for another double stint.

When Ickx climbed out of the car for a second time, the remaining Martini Porsche was up to third, the gap to the leader was down to six laps and Renault had suffered its first engine failure.

"For me this is the most incredible and exciting race I ever had," says Ickx. "You think everything is lost. Of course you go as fast as you can and try to finish, but no one thought we could win.

"But as you start to come back it is very motivating. The gap comes down and your position goes up, and the leaders have to start pushing a little bit. The Renault cars started to have problems and then we started to believe."

Ickx, Haywood and Barth moved into second when the Alpine-Renault A442 shared by Jacques Laffite and Patrick Depailler required a gearbox rebuild. At the 17-hour mark, the leading A442 shared by Derek Bell and Jean-Pierre Jabouille holed a piston.

The Porsche now led but, like all good Le Mans tales, this one had a final twist. The 936's flat-six engine also holed a piston and, with 45 minutes to go, the factory team had to blank off the offending cylinder so that Barth could nurse the car home.

"You had to be conservative at Le Mans in those days," reckons Ickx. "The fascination of the race in 1977 was that with nothing to lose we drove flat-out."

The story of the 1977 Le Mans is well chronicled, but Ickx reveals an interesting and little-known detail about the race: the rev-counter had stopped working before he even sat in the car.

"My whole race in that car was done without a rev-counter," he says. "That means you had to drive and change gear only by ear."

The event that changed him

It would be wrong to describe Ickx's foray into the world of rally-raids as a second career. He was, after all, a true all-rounder who notched up multiple victories in Formula 1, sportscars, touring cars, Can-Am and Formula 2. But 14 starts in what was then known as the Paris-Dakar Rally, encompassing a victory and two seconds, had a profound effect on him.

"I am not the same person anymore and the change happened when I did the Dakar," he says. "I am more pleasant now! Before I was what I call monorail: my life was all about winning races.

"I had a limited angle of view on the world, but when I started doing the Dakar in 1981 I passed from a narrow angle to a wide angle. I think I won something like 30 stages in total on the Paris-Dakar. That means being on top for 30 days, but winning is a detail compared with the intellectual progress that you make when you compete in an event like that.

"As an event, it is something fascinating, three weeks long with stages of 800km each day in a hostile environment. You meet amazing people who live in a different universe."

Ickx made his debut in the Paris-Dakar in 1981 and continued to compete in the desert beyond his retirement from circuit racing at the end of 1985. He contested the event for 12 consecutive seasons, before making low-key returns in 1995 and 2000.

Ickx won the Dakar at his third attempt in 1983 aboard a Mercedes 280GE entered in the truck category. Three years later he took second in a Porsche 1-2 with the 959. Three years after that, he finished runner-up again, losing the win to Peugeot team-mate Ari Vatanen on the toss of a coin.

Peugeot dominated the event with its 405 TI and to ensure that there was no infighting between rally leader Ickx and Vatanen, who had lost time early in the event, the unusual tactical call was made.

"A choice had to be made, because even though there was strong opposition we were a long way ahead," recalls Ickx. "When I was offered the coin toss, I thought, why not? I really believed I was going to win it because I am a lucky guy."

Ickx stuck to the agreement, even when Vatanen got lost in the closing stages. "That," he says, "was the deal."