- Kiwi Moto3 rookie rebuilds confidence after tough run of DNFs
- Strong pace at Misano despite lap-one incident and tyre struggles
- Buchanan eyes momentum heading into Asian flyaway rounds
New Zealand grand prix motorcycle racer Cormac Buchanan is confident his rookie Moto3 World Championship campaign is back on track.
Since sustaining a knee injury at the CzechGP in Brno in July, Buchanan had been battling to return to the solid form which saw him impress with three top 10 finishes already this season.
The gutsy Southland teen put in a strong showing at Italy’s iconic Misano circuit during the weekend, despite a points finish eluding him.
“This weekend we’ve taken a big step forward and the confidence is back because, honestly, I had lost a lot of that since the summer break. It’s good to head into the Asian tour with good feelings,” Buchanan said.
‘For me, it’s about building on this result, even though our true potential wasn’t reflected in the race due to circumstances out of our control. I know in these next fly away races we can show it and I’m starting to feel like the rider I was before the summer break which is my main focus before the end of the season.
“The team and I are really confident and I’m really proud and happy with how we’ve worked this weekend. Obviously the changes I’ve made with my inner circle are working and we just need to keep on this positive trajectory for the remaining six races.”
An incident on track in the opening lap at Misano hindered Buchanan’s ability to fight for higher honours and he was forced to settle for 17th.
“Come race day I felt strong and that we could get into the points battle. I got a great start and was up five spots into P16 in the first sector and into the group ready to fight for the points. Then I got hit from behind by the same rider that took me out in Assen and that punted me off the circuit,” he said.
“From there my tyres got dirty and lost temperature. With the Pirelli’s you always have to keep them at a high temperature or they go through a heat cycle. From the end of lap one I knew it was going to be a long race because the tyres just tore up and it was like riding on ice the whole race. Misano only has a few left-hand corners but the left side of my tyre was completely destroyed.
‘It made for a tough race – a race that I told myself I just had to salvage what I can which was P17 in the end. The main thing was to finish the race but there are elements of disappointment – to miss out on Q2 by millimetres and then the race conditioned by what happened on lap one.”
Overall, Buchanan was satisfied with his progress.
“It was a weekend where we focused on trying to get some momentum back. Honestly, it has been a really, really tough period for me lately with three DNFs on the spin. It’s not a run of form any racer wants and we came to Misano with a clear goal in mind to turn that around before we head away on the Asian tour. We achieved that,” he said.
“From the Friday we were a lot closer than we’ve been in previous race weekends which meant we didn’t have as much work to do come the Saturday. We achieved good feelings in both sessions but couldn’t quite achieve the optimal lap. We could have passed directly to Q2 if I had but it still gave us a lot of optimism.
“On Saturday we started off doing our race simulation with the one long run and we could deliver a really strong consistent pace, over a second a lap faster than the day before, so it was clear we had the pace heading into Q1.
“In the second exit of Q1, I opted to go out by myself. I believe in myself and I knew I could do it alone even if we would lose a lot of time in the straights without the slipstream.
‘We certainly did a good enough lap to pass to Q2. Unfortunately, by a mere few millimetres that I touched the green, I missed out with my lap time cancelled. It was really frustrating because we passed to Q2 with a couple of tenths in hand and as the only rider that was going alone. Looking at the data we lost over half a second in the straights compared to the rest of the field and still achieved it so I was happy because I did the lap but not happy because half my wheel was on the white and half on the green so it felt like the punishment didn’t really fit the crime.”
Buchanan now prepares for the Motul Grand Prix of Japan at Motegi Circuit from September 26-28.
Photo credit: Manu Tormo
