Christopher James Buncombe (born 5 May 1978 in
Taunton
Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...
, Somerset, England) is a British racing driver who made his last appearance at the Le Mans 24 Hours was in 2011. He joined Aston Martin Racing at the end of the 2009 season when he drove in the
Le Mans Series
The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...
scoring a podium finish on his debut with the team at Nürburgring driving the 008 Aston Martin LMP1 car. Chris won the
2007 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class driving for Binnie Motorsports in their
Lola B05/40
The Lola B05/40 is a Le Mans Prototype built by Lola Cars International for use in the LMP2 class for the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Developed in 2005, it was intended as a replacement for both the Lola B ...
-
Zytek
Gibson Technology is an automotive and motorsport company based at Repton, Derbyshire, England. It was founded by Bill Gibson as "Zytek Engineering" in 1981.
In 1981 Gibson founded the "Zytech Group" with two main divisions: Zytek Automotive, b ...
.
Career
2018
Blancpain Endurance GT Pro-Am Champion - Strakka Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 with Nick Leventis & Lewis Williamson
Runner-Up FIA GT Nations Cup - Team UK AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3
Asian Le Mans Series with United Autosports
2013
Spa 24 Hours with Nissan Team RJN GTR GT-3
2011
Le Mans 24 Hours with JOTA Sport Aston Martin GTE
Le Mans Series
The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...
Silverstone
2010
American Le Mans Series
LMP2
A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were create ...
single race at Mid Ohio. Le Mans Series LMP2 single race at Hungaroring
2009
Factory driver for
Aston Martin Racing
Aston Martin Racing is a British auto racing team established in 2004 as a partnership between automobile manufacturer Aston Martin and engineering group Prodrive. The partnership was initially created for the purpose of returning Aston ...
in the LMP1 car number 008 for the
Le Mans Series
The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...
where the Team scored an Aston Martin 1-2-3 at the ADAC
1000 km of Nürburgring, 50 years on from Aston Martin's 1959 win at the classic German endurance race in the DBR1.
2008
Speedcar Series
Nascar
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
alongside various races for JD Classics in their
Group C
Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs.
It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...
Jaguar XJR-9
The Jaguar XJR-9 is a sports-prototype race car built by Jaguar for both FIA Group C and IMSA Camel GTP racing, debuting at the 1988 24 Hours of Daytona.
Development
An evolution of the design for the XJR-8, the XJR-9 was designed by Ton ...
&
XJR-11
2007
Le Mans Series
The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...
& Le Mans 24 Hours debut for US based Team, Binnie Motorsports driving with
Bill Binnie and
Allen Timpany in the Lola B05/40-Zytek LMP2, winning the LMP2 class at Le Mans
2006
FIA GT1
Spa 24 Hours
The 24 Hours of Spa is an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies.
History
The Spa 24 Hours was ...
for Team SRT in the
Corvette C5-R
2005
FIA GT Championship
The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...
driving the Red Bull
Maserati MC12
The Maserati MC12 (''Tipo M144S'') is a limited production two-seater sports car produced by Italian car maker Maserati to allow a racing variant to compete in the FIA GT Championship. The car entered production in 2004, with 25 cars produced. ...
for JMB Racing, driving with
Philipp Peter
Philipp Peter (born 6 April 1969 in Vienna) is a race car driver from Austria.
He started in junior formula cars with the highlight winning the Austria Formula 3 Cup in 1992. He represented Austria in the 1990 EFDA Nations Cup and also raced in ...
and
Roman Rusinov
Roman Aleksandrovich Rusinov ( rus, Рома́н Алекса́ндрович Ру́синов, p=rɐˈman ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈrusʲɪnəv, born 21 October 1981 in Moscow) is a Russian auto racing driver who competed in the FIA World Endu ...
2004
Racing in the
FIA GT Championship
The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...
with
JMB Racing
JMB Racing is a racing team from Monaco that competes in sports car racing. It was founded in Nice, France, in 1995 as JB Racing by Jean-Michel Bouresche and Jean-Pierre Jabouille. It was renamed JMB (Bouresche's initials) in 2000 after Jabouille l ...
in the #18
Ferrari 575M GT1. Teammates included
Karl Wendlinger
Karl Wendlinger (born 20 December 1968) is an Austrian professional racing and former Formula One driver.
Mercedes Juniors
Born in Kufstein, Wendlinger started his career in karting and in Formula Ford before entering the German Formula 3 Cham ...
,
Tarso Marques
Tarso Anibal Santanna Marques (born 19 January 1976) is a Brazilian racing driver who competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 79 Ford Mustang for Team Stange Racing in both series. He previously ...
and
Bert Longin
Bert or BERT may refer to:
Persons, characters, or animals known as Bert
*Bert (name), commonly an abbreviated forename and sometimes a surname
*Bert, a character in the poem "Bert the Wombat" by The Wiggles; from their 1992 album Here Comes a Son ...
.
2002
RJN Motorsport Nissan FIA
European Touring Car Championship
The European Touring Car Championship was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004. In 2005 it was superseded by the World T ...
.
2001
British Formula Renault
British Formula Renault Championship referred to one of two Formula Renault championships that were held in the United Kingdom. The main series was Renault Sport UK's Formula Renault 2.0 UK championship which was held from 1989 to 2011 and was g ...
with
Manor Motorsport
Manor Motorsport Ltd, currently trading as Manor Endurance Racing Ltd is a British motor racing company that was formed in 1990 by former single-seater champion John Booth. Manor has participated as a team in many motorsport disciplines since ...
.
1997-2000
Chris raced in the
British Formula Renault Championship
British Formula Renault Championship referred to one of two Formula Renault championships that were held in the United Kingdom. The main series was Renault Sport UK's Formula Renault 2.0 UK championship which was held from 1989 to 2011 and was ge ...
before joining the factory Nissan Motorsports Europe (NME) Team when he raced the
Nissan Primera
The is a Mid-size car, large family car which was produced by the Japanese automaker Nissan from 1990 to 2007, for the markets in Japan and Europe. In Japan, it replaced the Nissan Stanza, Auster/Stanza, and was exclusive to ''Nissan Motor Comp ...
in the Benelux Championship during 1999 and the RJN Motorsport Nissan Primera in the 2000
Spa 24 Hours
The 24 Hours of Spa is an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies.
History
The Spa 24 Hours was ...
.
1995-1996
Winner Formula Vauxhall Junior Young Driver Scholarship
British Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship
1993-1995
Karting - British Super One Championship
1988-1993
Schoolboy motocross
Family History
Chris grew up from a motorsport family. His grandfather, John Buncombe, competed during the 1950s & '60s. His father, Jonathan Buncombe raced for over 20 years for multiple manufacturers including Ford, GM and early racing career in Minis.
Chris' brother,
Alex
Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis.
People
Multiple
*Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people
* Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people
*Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple pe ...
is a Factory Nissan Nismo driver, 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series Champion and represented Nissan in multiple race series including GT3, GT4, Australian V8 Supercars, Nurburgring 24 Hours, Petit Le Mans and the Le Mans 24 Hours in LMP1.
24 Hours of Le Mans results
References
External links
Official Website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buncombe, Chris
1979 births
Living people
English racing drivers
European Le Mans Series drivers
Sportspeople from Taunton
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
24 Hours of Spa drivers
European Touring Car Championship drivers
British GT Championship drivers
AF Corse drivers
Jota Sport drivers
Strakka Racing drivers
United Autosports drivers
Asian Le Mans Series drivers
Blancpain Endurance Series drivers
American Le Mans Series drivers
Aston Martin Racing drivers
Charouz Racing System drivers
FIA GT Championship drivers
British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers
Manor Motorsport drivers
Team West-Tec drivers
Le Mans Cup drivers