Pace led to points for New Zealand grand prix motorcycle racer Cormac Buchanan at the Moto3 World Championship in Germany.
The tight and technical Sachsenring circuit proved a happy hunting ground for the Southland teen, delivering his strongest performance of the 2026 season as he finished P13 in Sunday’s race and added valuable points to his championship tally.
“Overall, the weekend was extremely positive and a good confidence booster. Top 10 in pretty much every session and fighting for those top places was nice again,” Buchanan said.
“To be there again felt great, and it’s a good weekend to build on now. It’s been a really rough start to the year with the injury, which is still not anywhere near 100 per cent, so it’s been frustrating at times not to be able to show my full potential. So, I’m glad we could show something this weekend.
“It was our best weekend of the season so far. I definitely knew it was very important to have a strong performance heading into the summer break. Three weeks might not seem like a long time, but it’s a long time off the bike, so the better shape you can go into that with, the more motivation it adds.
“For me, it was important to enjoy and go into the break with positive vibes, and that’s exactly what we did.
“I’m really grateful to my CODE BOÉ Motorsports team. They’ve done a great job, and we’ve been working all weekend amazingly, really enjoying ourselves. This is what the team is capable of, and it’s what I’m capable of. We know a big result is around the corner, and we’re very capable of fighting for top places this year.
“I won’t stop believing until we get there, and I thank my team for never stopping the belief in me because we’ve had some tough moments this year, but it’s not about how many times you get pushed down, it’s about how many times you get back up.”
Buchanan was hot on the pace from the outset, finishing P9 in the opening FP1 and P8 in practice, securing a spot directly into Q2. Most importantly, his lap times were a mere 0.3 and 0.1 seconds off the fastest set, respectively.
“From the first laps, I felt comfortable and confident in the team and with the bike. I could push early on, and we were inside the top 10 in both sessions on day one to earn promotion straight to Q2,” he said.
“The qualifying was another great step forward. It was P11, but we managed to improve the lap time to 1.25.4. If you’d told me I would be doing that before the race weekend, I would have been very happy.
“It meant we were very competitive even though I didn’t manage to get the best out of the lap. P11 was my best dry qualifying and starting position of the season, and also the closest I’ve been to pole, with only 0.5 seconds in it.
“I felt like we could do a good race and end the first half of the season on a really good stretch.”
A solid launch into the thick of the action bodes well in Sunday’s main event. However, tyre gremlins, often synonymous with the challenging circuit, struck earlier than anticipated.
“The race started well, and I was up inside the top 10 initially and then sitting around P11. To be honest, I really struggled to keep the pace with the medium tyre, which is weird. When I say we’re struggling, I mean it’s only two or three tenths of a second, but those small margins were costing me quite a bit,” Buchanan said.
“I kept pushing and tried to stay in the fight so that way when other’s tyres dropped off I would be there to pick up the pieces. Finally, I was sitting around 13th when I really started having grip problems.
“At that point, I had to ask myself if it was better to risk staying in the battle for, at that point, P7 or accept I’ve got a safe 13th place here, we’ve had a good, stress-free weekend, and is it better to take these points and head into the summer break on a really good note?
“I definitely think it was a wise decision on my part. I felt like I was on my limit – not so much with the pace because it wasn’t super fast ahead, and I’m definitely capable of running that pace, it was more so to run that pace, I felt like I was risking a crash, especially with the state the tyre was in.
“For the future races, working with the medium tyre is something we need to improve to try and find those two or three tenths. If we can do that, we’ll be able to propel ourselves into that podium fight, which is obviously where we want to be. That’s always the goal.”
After a three-week hiatus, MotoGP reconvenes at the Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone from 7-9 August.
“Now we have three weeks to try and get back to full fitness, use the time to get better. We’ve got 11 more races now to come, and that’s 11 more chances to prove what we did this weekend and even more,” Buchanan said.
“Silverstone is a place I love, and the next stop at Aragon is also one of my favourite circuits, so I think we’ll be able to put ourselves in a strong position in the second half of the season. That’s my goal, and we’ll make sure we rest – I definitely need it – and come back 10 times as strong. I know the best is yet to come, and it’s not far away.”
Header Image: Manu Tormo Fotografía / Dast Media
