The entry was more or less the same as the previous week's race although Stewart, Ickx and Rindt were otherwise engaged. One new car appeared, this being the first Formula Two Chevron from Derek Bennett Engineering Ltd. The car was basically very similar to their F.3 car which was introduced last autumn and was powered by the usual FVA engine and driven by Gethin.
The circuit is situated close to the Rhine just outside the small town of Hockenheim from which the wine Hock takes its name. The circuit has little to recommend it, being a flat blind for all but four or five corners grouped in a stadium designed to hold 100,000 spectators. Most of the circuit cuts through thick German forests with the towering pines bordering both sides of the road.
Practice was more a matter of getting a tow than anything else, and the two works Matra drivers worked well together and took the first two places with Beltoise being credited with 1 min. 59.3 sec., 0.7 sec. quicker than Brian Hart's record of last season. A surprise third fastest was the German Ahrens who is another to graduate from driving in F.3 the previous year. He is driving a Brabham sponsored by the German division of Caltex petroleum.
