- An early race moment forced Cormac Buchanan wide at Brno, leaving the Kiwi rider unable to stay with the group fighting for a top-10 result.
- Setup challenges and a lack of top speed made qualifying difficult, with Buchanan admitting his time attack remains an area he needs to improve.
- With the MotoGP calendar heading straight to Assen, the CODE Motorsport rider is focused on using the lessons learned in Czechia to bounce back immediately.
New Zealand Moto3 rider Cormac Buchanan endured a challenging weekend at Brno after setup issues and an early race scare left him fighting back to 18th, but the Southlander is already looking ahead to another opportunity at Assen.
New Zealand Moto3 rider Cormac Buchanan says the packed MotoGP calendar leaves no time to dwell on disappointment as he looks to bounce back immediately at this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.
The Southland teenager endured a challenging outing at the Czech Grand Prix at the iconic Autodrom Brno, eventually crossing the line in 18th place after an early race incident cost him vital contact with the leading pack.
A scare in the opening laps forced Buchanan to run wide and dropped him away from the group battling inside the top 10. Despite matching the pace of the riders fighting for seventh position, the gap proved too much to overcome in a class where fractions of a second can make the difference between fighting for points and finishing outside the top 15.
“From that moment on, it was all about fighting back,” Buchanan said.
“Unfortunately, the gap proved insurmountable back to the group fighting for P7. I was able to match their pace and chip away at it, but it’s hard to recover the time when there’s not much separating the lap times given how incredibly competitive this Moto3 class is.
“Still, we kept pushing until the chequered flag and there are some positives to take away. Giving up isn’t in my DNA. Together with my team, we know we can achieve what we want, so we won’t stop trying until we get there.”
The weekend had already been difficult for the young Kiwi and his CODE Motorsport team, with setup issues leaving them lacking top speed during the early sessions.
While significant improvements were made by Saturday, the lack of pace earlier in the weekend compromised Buchanan’s qualifying performance and left him with work to do on Sunday.
“Q1 was disappointing as I trusted myself to go alone, but I just couldn’t put the lap together and show our true potential,” he said.
“We’d made a huge step in FP2 earlier in the day and I felt strong but with the changing track conditions, I just couldn’t replicate the lap time needed to give us a crack at Q2.
“Qualifying and the time attack is still an area I have to work on for the future.”
Despite the frustration of missing out on a stronger result, Buchanan takes confidence from the fact the MotoGP calendar moves quickly, with the TT Circuit Assen hosting the Tissot Grand Prix of the Netherlands this coming weekend.
“The good thing about back-to-back race weekends is there’s no time to dwell on what might have been,” Buchanan said.
“You’ve just got to process it and move on because it’s a new race week just hours later.
“When things don’t quite go to plan, straight away we have another chance to improve and that’s where the focus is. We learned a lot this weekend and we’ll use that to our advantage.”
With another chance only days away, Buchanan will be aiming to turn the lessons from Brno into a stronger performance at one of motorcycle racing’s most historic venues.
