Sport + Motorsport
Cormac Buchanan has his speed back.
The Southland grand prix racer finished within a second of the lead in every session at Mugello, proving his recovery from the injuries that have plagued his Moto3 World Championship campaign.
"The weekend overall was a really positive one, especially with my feeling on the bike," he said.
Buchanan dominated practice in wet conditions, finishing fifth despite bad memories at the Italian circuit. "This track holds some, let's say, pretty bad memories for me in the wet after crashing out of the lead twice in my Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup days," he said. "So, it was great to have a strong, fast session in the wet and I felt comfortable straight away which meant we could understand the track at a slower pace which is better to learn."
Dry practice told the real story. Buchanan finished 18th, just 0.8 seconds off the fastest time.
"From the first laps I was quite competitive. I was able to stay inside the top 10 positions on the timesheet and I was ready to make a step in the second exit for the time attack," he said. "I couldn't get a clean lap in the group and obviously at Mugello the slipstream is very important so I had to go at it alone and just missed out going straight to Q2 by 0.1 seconds."
The pace without a tow impressed him most. "I wanted to see the kind of pace I had and was able to ride very fast alone, making a high 1.55 without any slipstream to finish 0.6 seconds off," Buchanan said. "I definitely had one of the best paces alone and that gave me a lot of confidence for Q1."
Qualifying went to plan. Third in Q1 earned him a spot in Q2 for the third time this season.
"The Q1 was pretty calm and I just did the lap straight away," Buchanan said. "I felt I could play a really big part in Q2 and be in the fight. In the first run, I made too many mistakes honestly. I had a big save and lost a lap there."
Race day brought frustration. Buchanan started well and ran with the points group but aggressive riding from other riders split the pack when he was ready to attack. He finished 19th, 5.7 seconds from the win.
"The race was frustrating for me. I had a lot of pace and a lot of rhythm but I wasn't able to use it," he said. "Then other riders were more interested in battling for that position than getting back to the front group – it was almost like a yo-yo effect which was annoying for me as I knew when I had clear air in front of me I had faster pace than the leaders were doing."
The final laps sealed his fate. "In the last five laps we got splintered away from the lead because another rider was being an idiot and riding slowly wanting to win the battle for P16," Buchanan said. "It's upsetting for sure because I truly believe I had the pace to be right in the mix today."
But the weekend proved his comeback is real. "I take the positives with me. We are certainly a lot stronger than when we entered the weekend," he said. "This result doesn't really reflect that but I know we're coming back to where we were pre-Brazil."
Next stop is Hungary this week. "For Hungary I'm really motivated because this result leaves me frustrated as I know it's nowhere near what I could have done today," Buchanan said. "I'm ready to fight and you could definitely say I'm hungry for Hungary."