Rank | Heat | Nation | Athletes | Time | Notes |
1 | 1 | United States | Jim Green, Tommie Turner, Ron Draper, Roger Colglazier | 40.5 | Q |
2 | 1 | Italy | Giovanni Lai, Ennio Preatoni, Franco Ossola, Pasqualino Abeti | 40.7 | Q |
3 | 1 | Ivory Coast | Allechi Alliko, Hauhout Assamo, Gaoussou Koné, Amadou Meïté | 41.0 | |
4 | 1 | Australia | Mal Baird, Alan Bradshaw, David Stokes, Lawrie Walkley | 41.1 | [3] |
5 | 1 | Madagascar | Augustin Miadana, Jean-Aime Randrianalijaona, Henri Rafaralahy, Jean-Louis Ravelomamantsoa | 41.7 | |
1 | 2 | West Germany | Günther Nickel, Klaus-Dieter Bieler, Günther Rudolph, Joachim Eigenherr | 39.9 | Q[4] |
2 | 2 | Cuba | Bárbaro Bandomo, Juan Morales, Pablo Montes, José Triana Matamoros | 40.1 | Q |
3 | 2 | France | Jacques Broux, Patrick Bourbeillon, Charles Ducasse, Jean-Pierre Carette | 40.2 | q[5] |
4 | 2 | Spain | Julián Marco, Pedro Aguadé, José Luis Sánchez Paraíso, Juan Carlos Jones | 41.4 | [6] |
5 | 2 | Nigeria | A. Otusanya, Ethelbert Nwagbo, David Urhobo Tonitse, O. T. Kelani | 41.9 | |
6 | 2 | Kuwait | Thanyan Al-Ghanim, Abdulghalil Al-Kassim, Abdulaziz Al-Hadba, Abdulrahman Al-Kaoud | 45.8 | |
| 2 | Congo | Antoine Nkounkou, Louis Nkanza, Rigobert David Ibata, Jean-Pierre Bassegela | DQ | |
1 | 3 | Poland | Stanisław Wagner, Gerard Gramse, Jan Werner, Zenon Nowosz | 39.7 | Q, UR[4] |
2 | 3 | Soviet Union | Aleksandr Kornelyuk, Vladislav Sapeya, Boris Izmestyev, Valentin Maslakov | 40.2 | Q |
3 | 3 | Great Britain | Ian Green, Martin Reynolds, John Williams, Ralph Banthorpe | 40.2 | q |
4 | 3 | Japan | Masahide Jinno, Naoki Abe, Kyoichiro Inoue, Shinji Ogura | 41.1 | |
5 | 3 | Austria | Erich Bonesch, Gert Herunter, Axel Nepraunik, Peter Culk | 41.6 | |
6 | 3 | Portugal | Abreu Matos, Carlos Cardoso, Fernando Lamy de Fortuna, Mario Oliveira | 42.2 | |