 Firth and Gibson were actually flagged in 2nd behind their Ford works team mates, Ian and Leo Geoghegan but following a re-count of the lap charts (after Firth protested the result resulting in long term animosity between himself and the Geoghegan's), were correctly awarded 1st place later that night.Firth won the 1968 Australian Rally Championship driving a Ford Cortina Lotus.That year he also led a three car Ford Australia assault on the inaugural London–Sydney Marathon, preparing a trio of XT Falcon GT's for the event which started on 24–25 November at Crystal Palace in London and traveled through Europe, the Middle East and South Asia before arriving in Bombay, India on 1–2 December.