Race results
Race startOctober 7, 1978 at 20:00Eastern Daylight Time
| POS. | NO. | Driver | Team | TIME | Laps | Grid | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Gilles Villeneuve | Ferrari | 1:57:49.196 | 70 | 3 | 9 |
| 2 | 20 | Jody Scheckter | Wolf | +13.372 | 70 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 11 | Carlos Reutemann | Ferrari | +19.408 | 70 | 11 | 4 |
| 4 | 35 | Riccardo Patrese | Arrows | +24.667 | 70 | 12 | 3 |
| 5 | 4 | Patrick Depailler | Tyrrell | +28.558 | 70 | 13 | 2 |
| 6 | 22 | Derek Daly | Ensign | +54.476 | 70 | 15 | 1 |
| 7 | 3 | Didier Pironi | Tyrrell | +1:21.250 | 70 | 18 | 0 |
| 8 | 8 | Patrick Tambay | McLaren | +1:26.560 | 70 | 17 | 0 |
| 9 | 27 | Alan Jones | Williams | +1:28.942 | 70 | 5 | 0 |
| 10 | 5 | Mario Andretti | Team Lotus | +1 Lap | 69 | 9 | 0 |
| 11 | 66 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham | +1 Lap | 69 | 14 | 0 |
| 12 | 15 | Jean-Pierre Jabouille | Renault | +5 Laps | 65 | 22 | 0 |
| 13 | 10 | Keke Rosberg | ATS | +12 Laps | 58 | 21 | 0 |
| - | 26 | Jacques Laffite | Ligier | DNF (Transmission) | 52 | 10 | 0 |
| - | 7 | James Hunt | McLaren | DNF (Spun off) | 51 | 19 | 0 |
| - | 55 | Jean-Pierre Jarier | Team Lotus | DNF (Oil leak) | 49 | 1 | 0 |
| - | 18 | René Arnoux | Surtees | DNF (Engine) | 37 | 16 | 0 |
| - | 21 | Bobby Rahal | Wolf | DNF (Fuel system) | 16 | 20 | 0 |
| - | 2 | John Watson | Brabham | DNF (Accident) | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| - | 1 | Niki Lauda | Brabham | DNF (Brakes) | 5 | 7 | 0 |
| - | 16 | Hans-Joachim Stuck | Shadow | DNF (Accident) | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| - | 14 | Emerson Fittipaldi | Fittipaldi | DNF (Accident) | 0 | 6 | 0 |