Barcelona brutal but Buchanan refuses to fold
First-corner contact in Sunday’s Moto3 grand prix summed up his Catalunya weekend but the Kiwi teen heads to Tuscany with his chin up. There's simply no other option.
Barcelona promised a reset. It delivered another tough lesson instead.
Cormac Buchanan arrived at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last week carrying the weight of 15 pointless finishes from his last 16 Moto3 starts, zero points in the 2026 championship, and the quiet but unshakeable belief that his luck had to turn somewhere. The home grand prix of his CODE Boé Motorsports team felt like as good a place as any.
It wasn’t.
But here’s the thing about the Southland teen. He didn’t quit. He doesn’t know how.
The weekend started badly and compounded from there. A crash in FP1 cost him laps he couldn’t afford on a circuit he’d never truly got to grips with, and the deficit carried through every session. Yet buried inside that difficult storyline was something worth clocking — the 19-year-old got faster every single time he went out. From 1:50.365 in a disrupted FP1, to 1:49.186 in timed practice, to 1:48.794 in FP2, to 1:48.703 in Q1. More than one and a half seconds found across four sessions, on a circuit that was fighting him every step of the way.
It wasn’t enough to escape Q1, a session topped by Italian Guido Pini. Buchanan finished 12th and last, 1.418 seconds adrift with only the top four advancing. Moments later in Q2, Argentina’s Valentin Perrone claimed pole at 1:46.679, edging Spaniards David Muñoz and Brian Uriarte by five and nineteen thousandths respectively — all three on KTMs. Championship leader Maximo Quiles slotted 7th. Just 0.744 seconds covered the entire top 16. Margins that make Buchanan’s gap to the front look vast. Margins that also show exactly how little separates the pack once you’re in it.
Buchanan went to the grid 26th and last on Sunday, 25 riders stretching ahead of him. Then the lights went out.
And by the first corner, so too his chances of that much-desired reset.
“Today’s race was pretty much over after just one corner,” Buchanan said.
“I made an amazing start, overtaking a lot of riders and putting myself in a good position to fight with the group. But then I got a big contact from another rider which sent me into the gravel trap, costing me a lot of time and with that, any chance of a strong result.”
Buchanan rejoined, circulated, gathered data, and crossed the line 24th of the classified finishers. It was 40.082 seconds behind race winner Maximo Quiles — the imperious 18-year-old Spaniard claiming his fourth victory of 2026 ahead of compatriots Alvaro Carpe and David Muñoz in an all-Spanish podium that underlined just how dominant the home contingent has been this season.
Two riders — Jesus Rios and Nicola Carraro — didn’t make it to the flag. Buchanan did.
“Still, I stayed out there and gathered some good data on the bike,” the Kiwi continued on social media, no doubt wishing he had something more positive to talk about.
You have to go back to round 19 of last season at Phillip Island to find the last points Buchanan banked, after all. Five of them for the record, for 11th place at the Australian GP.
“This is one of those weekends we just have to move on from and focus on understanding what we need to get the best out of both myself and the bike, because we know when we do that, we can be very fast.”
At least Buchanan escaped what turned out to be a sobering Sunday in Barcelona ready to fight again. Horrific crashes in the showcase MotoGP left Alex Marquez and Johann Zarco in hospital, their seasons in doubt. Race winner Fabio Di Giannantonio won with a wrecked left hand after collecting the flying front wheel and a folk that had violently parted company from Marquez’s Ducati after his frightening head on with Pedro Acosta. Jorge Martin hobbled away after five crashes across the weekend. Ascota was taken out at the last corner. Marc Marquez didn’t even make it to Barcelona after another big off at Le Mans.
It put everything into sharp context.
Still, there’s no sugarcoating where Buchanan sits. Still pointless in 2026. Still last in the championship. Still searching for the result that matches what he knows and those around him in the paddock believe he’s capable of. The Catalunya weekend was, by any measure, one to forget.
But forget, like that q word, isn’t in his vocabulary.
“Big thanks to the team and everyone supporting me, especially through the tough moments. I won’t give up and I’ll keep fighting because I know the potential we have.”
The championship moves to Mugello next. Another circuit, another chance. A fortnight for the Big Reset. Take II.
You can be sure MacAttack won’t back down in Tuscany.