Nissan’s British V8 Supercar rookie Alex Buncombe proved one of the star co-drivers on Saturday at the Wilson Security Sandown 500.

The factory Nissan driver started and finished 10th in the co-driver qualifying race aboard Todd Kelly’s Jack Daniel’s Altima, leading the charge for the Japanese marque.

The result saw GT regular Buncombe take the chequered flag on the tail of reigning Bathurst 1000 winner Steven Richards.

“I couldn’t want it to have gone any better than that,” reflected Buncombe, whose previous experience in the car consisted of limited laps at Sydney Motorsport Park’s pre-season test and a single team test day at Winton.

“To be honest, I was a little nervous about the start, I’ve never gotten one of these cars off the line before.

“I managed to get a pretty good start, I was even with the Triple Eight car alongside me, so I was pretty pleased going into turn one.

“It was a pretty hectic first lap as I thought it would be, I settled down, and I was pretty happy with my pace.”

Buncombe’s only major scare was mid-race contact with compatriot Oliver Gavin when the Walkinshaw Holden driver attempted an inside pass at Turn 1.

“He went up the inside of me a bit late, and had contact at the apex,” said Buncombe.

“It was one of those things, and I lost touch with the guys in front.

“I managed to catch back up in the last few laps, when we were four wide going into turn two.

“At the end of the day to start P10 and finish P10, I’m really pleased with my performance, and it was really good to give the car over to Todd in that position.”

Kelly, who subsequently finished 11th in the second heat, was full of praise for his co-driver.

“Alex did an unreal job,” said Kelly.

“It surprised me at the start, because he had only done three or four practice starts before today, and I was waiting for him to lose a few off the line.

“But he did an amazing job in the opening laps and throughout the whole race, so I couldn’t be happier with his performance.”

The remaining Nissans of Michael Caruso/Dean Fiore, Rick Kelly/David Russell and James Moffat/Taz Douglas will start the Sandown 500 13th, 14th and 22nd respectively.