Buncombe began his competitive career in single-seater racing, competing in the British Formula Renault Championship from 2001 to 2003. He finished fifth in the 2003 Winter Series. His transition to GT racing came in 2005, when he entered the Trofeo Maserati. He made an immediate impression, winning his first race in the series at Monza by a margin of thirty-five seconds.
From 2007 to 2011, Buncombe became a consistent frontrunner in the GT4 European Series, competing for RJN Motorsport. He took third place in the championship in his debut season of 2007 before improving to runner-up finishes in both 2008 and 2009. Over five seasons in the series he scored five pole positions and ten race victories, establishing himself as one of the most competitive GT4 drivers of the era.
Buncombe moved into the Blancpain Endurance Series in 2011 and immediately made his mark, winning the GT4 Cup class alongside Jordan Tresson and Christopher Ward. When the GT4 Cup class was discontinued the following year, he stepped up to the GT3 Pro-Am Cup class, where he secured two wins and achieved a best overall season finish of fourth in 2013.
Buncombe has built a broad endurance racing portfolio since 2008, competing in several of the sport's most iconic long-distance events. His programme has included the Bathurst 12 Hour, the Dubai 24 Hour, the Nurburgring 24 Hours, the Silverstone 24 Hour, and the Spa 24 Hours — a range of events that reflects the diversity and demands of GT endurance competition at the international level.
Buncombe's connection to Nissan's global driver programme led to his entry in the 2014 Bathurst 12 Hour as part of the Nismo Global Driver Exchange. He shared a Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 with Katsumasa Chiyo, Rick Kelly, and Wolfgang Reip. The team's race ended prematurely after just 58 laps when Chiyo was involved in a crash in the early stages. Buncombe was set to return to Bathurst for the 2015 edition but had to withdraw due to the birth of his first child.
Later in 2014, Buncombe joined Nissan's V8 Supercars programme as a co-driver for Todd Kelly in the Endurance Cup. The pair finished twentieth at the Sandown 500 and followed that with a seventh-place finish at the Bathurst 1000, an encouraging result for a driver making his debut in the Australian touring car category.
The Buncombe family represents a notable motorsport lineage in British racing. Jonathan Buncombe, Alex's father, was a BTCC competitor, while his brother Chris Buncombe has pursued a professional GT career of his own. Alex Buncombe's path through Formula Renault, GT4, and GT3 reflects the typical progression of a British driver who came through the national racing infrastructure of the early 2000s.
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