Intercontinental GT Challenge

Alex Buncombe To Join KCMG For IGTC At Laguna Seca (25.03.19)

KC Motorgroup Ltd (KCMG) has revealed the driver line-ups for its pair of Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3s for Round Two of the 2019 Intercontinental GT Challenge, the California 8 Hours at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on March 30.

The crew for the #18 entry remains unchanged from that which finished seventh overall at the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour in February with Oliver Jarvis being joined Alexandre Imperatori and Edoardo Liberati.

In the #35 car, however, Katsumasa Chiyo and Josh Burden will be joined by Alex Buncombe for his maiden IGTC race.

Buncombe, who joined Christian Menzel, Philip Wlazik and Alex Fontana in the #38 KCMG entry in VLN 1 on March 23 is looking forward to the challenge of Laguna Seca.

“I’m very pleased to be joining KCMG for the California 8 Hours this weekend at Laguna Seca,” said Buncombe. “The opportunity will reunite me with my old team-mate Katsumasa Chiyo and I’m looking forward to sharing the car with Josh Burden also. The team showed excellent pace at the opening round of the IGTC in Bathurst so I’m hoping we can carry this speed into Laguna and challenge for a strong result,”

Ian Geekie, Team Manager for KCMG, is confident the team will be highly competitive at the Californian circuit.

“The improved reliability of our cars following the Dubai 24H was made very clear in Bathurst which gave us the opportunity to show our speed,” said Geekie. “It didn’t quite come together there but we will take everything we’ve learned so far into aiming for improved results. Obviously with the limited regulations there is only so much we can do but our team has explored every avenue to extract more potential from the car. I’m confident we can deliver at Laguna Seca.”

Qualifying for the California 8 Hours takes place at 11:20 local time on Friday March 29 with the 15-minute Pole Shootout for the top 15 cars beginning at 15:40 local time.