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Podium finish at the Nurburgring 24 Hour race.

Weybridge based Australian Ross Buckingham finished 3^rd in class in the Nurburgring 24 Hour race driving a Caterham 7 with James Auld, Adrian Watt and Mark Giles.

The team chose to stick with a tuned version of the 1400 cc engine for this years event which meant they could run the car 65 kilos lighter than the 2 Litre cars that were running in the same class. Qualifying was hindered by a fuel pump failure and a broken rear suspension. Luckily all 4 drivers were able to complete sufficient laps to qualify for the race.

The team quickly started to make its way through the field making up some 40 places in the first 2 hours! Eventually they made it up to 3^rd in class but had to work hard to stay ahead of the more powerful Caterham which was never far behind. More drama hit the team during the night when debris from another car smashed a hole in the sump. James Auld was able to make it to the pits before all the oil was lost and a new sump was quickly fitted. The car re-joined the race without losing the class position, which they were able to maintain for the following 10 Hours to the finish.

The Nurburgring 24 Hour race is the world's biggest race with 210 cars taking the start on the 15 mile circuit and well over 100000 spectators turning up to watch. Drivers not only face what is considered the worlds most difficult to learn and dangerous circuits. More information can be found on www.24h-rennen.de .

Ross was sponsored by Sportlink UK www.sportlinkuk.com and Do Your Own Site www.doyourownsite.com for the race.

Ross, is who made the graduation to the British GT Championship last year will also take part in this years inaugural Bathurst 24 Hour race in Australia. "As soon as I heard about this race I knew it was destined to become a classic event," said Ross "The race organizers Procar are doing a fantastic job and this will be a world class event, I can't wait to be there!" The event web site has just gone on line at www.bathurst24hr.com

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