Buchanan Shows Strong Pace In Hungary

New Zealand’s Cormac Buchanan walked away from a tough Moto3 weekend in Hungary with his head held high, despite a crash ending his race before the chequered flag.

The 14th round of the Moto3 World Championship was held at the brand-new Balaton Park Circuit, and it proved to be a demanding debut for the track. Tight corners and technical features led to several incidents across the weekend.

From the opening practice sessions, Buchanan adapted well and consistently improved his lap times. He narrowly missed progressing to Q2 in qualifying, finishing fifth in Q1 and just 0.2 seconds away from advancing.

“Overall it was a positive weekend in which we tackled each session differently than usual, trying to be calmer when on the bike to reduce mistakes and over-pushing which has been my issue recently,” he said. “Yes, the result was a glitch but 99 percent of the weekend we are really proud of as we achieved what we were aiming to do and will continue to build on the new approach we’ve developed.”

Starting from 19th on the grid, Buchanan made steady progress during the race and was running inside the top 16 after 13 laps. However, a crash at turn five brought his charge to an end.

“I am angry and disappointed not to have been able to finish a strong weekend in the points again. We were on track to do exactly that so it’s really frustrating to be hitting this tough phase in the season,” he said.

He explained that the early laps were difficult due to tyre feel, but once settled, his pace was strong. “I had the group in front of me that were battling for P12. They had a big gap after I lost ground in the opening laps but I could lap a second faster at some points and was closing them in,” he said.

“Then in corner five unexpectantly I lost the front without any chance to save it. I’m upset as I wasn’t pushing overly hard and had actually changed my riding style to adopt a safe approach so I could bring the bike and points home. It’s frustrating but highs and lows are part of this sport.”

Buchanan is now focused on his next race — the Catalonia GP at Montmeló from 5-7 September.

“We will take all of our good work into our home GP at Montmelo – a track I enjoy.”