New Zealand Moto3 rider Cormac Buchanan has kicked off his Spanish Grand Prix weekend with a productive day on track at the Circuito de Jerez, showing promising pace and a clear plan for improvement ahead of Qualifying.
Riding for Denssi Racing – BOÉ, Buchanan opened the day with Free Practice 1, finishing 16th on the timesheets with a best lap of 1:46.146—just over four tenths off the Top Ten.
“A good start to the weekend,” he said. “We focused on laying down our base to build from. Spinning as many laps as possible so we can already start preparing for Sunday. I’m happy with the work and the direction we are going in. We’ve got clear ideas and places to improve, so now I focus on putting the lap together in the time attack for the practice coming up—let’s keep working!”
He followed that up with another solid run in the second session, finishing 18th in Practice with a time of 1:45.778. Just 0.188 seconds off a spot in Q2, it was a tight margin that left Buchanan encouraged but hungry for more.
“We started the session working on some things for the race with a different compound combination from previous races,” he said. “The feeling was quite good, and we’ll keep working with it to understand if it’s the right direction or not.
I’ve been a bit too conservative, which is costly in terms of the fast lap, but we know what improvements are needed and I’m confident we’ll take another step forward tomorrow.”
Buchanan also highlighted the value of consistent running, adding: “We focused on making lots of laps and feel good with our long run pace and working alone.”
Later tonight, Buchanan will return to the track for Free Practice 2, before turning his attention to Qualifying which is scheduled to begin at 10:50pm NZT.
Header Image: Cormac Racing Facebook
