Cormac Buchanan’s Luck Has to Turn. Hasn't It?
The Kiwi teen is pointless in 15 of his last 16 starts, dead last in the championship and yet remains one of the most optimistic riders in the Moto3 paddock
By Kent Gray/Editor-in-Chief
The good news for Cormac Buchanan after his wretched luck continued at Le Mans on Sunday? Barcelona is already here.
Even if the Southland teen wanted to dwell on another crash, another early DNF, another pointless weekend in Moto3 – and who could blame him – there’s simply no time to get down on himself, not with the Monster Energy Grand Prix of Catalunya this weekend.
Not when Barcelona-Catalunya is the home Grand Prix of his CODE BOÉ Motorsports Team, and especially not given his luck finally looked to be turning at Le Mans until a downpour just before lights out turned the opening race of the French GP into a slip and slide for the little 250cc bikes.
‘MacAttack’ simply refuses to raise the white flag even as he endures a spell of painful crashes and rotten luck that would test the fortitude of the most mentally strong and fearless rider.
See, when we say Buchanan is in the midst of a barren-spell, we mean things are bone dry. His lap 1 crash at Le Mans means he’s DNF’ed two of this season’s five GPs and finds himself 27th and last in the championship with precisely zero points.
Indeed, save for the 5 points he banked for 11th place at last October’s Australian GP at Phillip Island (his second best result in Moto3 behind his 9th at the Sachsenring in Germany last July), the No.14 has gone pointless in 15 of his last 16 races. It’s a hugely frustrating spell spanning back to round 12 of his rookie season when a deep knee laceration in practice at the Czech GP forced him out of that late July weekend.
It makes the great Southland drought of 2021-22, when the cow cockies were left sweating on the region’s driest summer on record, look positively lush.
So, yes, you can absolutely appreciate Buchanan finding small mercy in rolling out of Le Mans and straight on to his home-away-from-home in Barcelona. At least he doesn’t have any fresh wounds to lick either because he doesn’t need any more help with the hurt after his two big high-sided offs at round 2 in Brazil.
“Yes, it’s frustrating not to have the race results yet to back up the progress I have made this season but it’s not far away and I will keep doing what I’m doing. I’m ready for full throttle at Barcelona,” Buchanan said.
“We can’t dwell on this as it’s race week again immediately. My goal now for Barcelona is to continue this momentum we have worked so hard for. I don’t really have to change anything – I know that now – and physically I’m nearly back to where I was pre the Brazil crash.”
Buchanan counted as one of a staggering 14 crashes in the Moto3 race at Le Mans. It was a blow because he genuinely fancied his chances in the wet.
So too did the TV commentators who spent the weekend apologising for cursing riders like the Kiwi who they’d rated as a podium threat until he almost inevitably crashed.
“About 20 minutes before our race it started pouring down,” the 19-year-old said, picking up the story. “I knew I was quick in the wet, I knew it was a really big opportunity to be on the podium.
“My initial focus was just to get through the first lap but in corner seven a rider checked up, so I touched the throttle to avoid a collision and in doing so I lost the rear and it spat me off.
“It certainly isn’t what I wanted and it feels like a missed opportunity for sure, but those things you can’t focus on. We had a really clean weekend, no mistakes, improved every session, rode really fast alone, and secured a place in Q2.”
That alone was a positive worth accentuating.
Le Mans was just the Kiwi’s 4th time in Q2 in 26 Moto3 starts; he scrapped through Q1 with the third best time and eventually settled for 15th – 0.969 behind pole winner Adrian Fernandez. The Spaniard went on to finish P2 in the rain-reduced 13-lapper behind imperious countryman Maximo Quiles, the 18-year-old No.28 winning his third GP of 2026 (he’s been 2nd in the other two starts) to improve his championship lead to 46 points.
“Overall, I’m really happy with the weekend,” said Buchanan who is a six-time NZSBK champion, twice each across the 150, 300 and 600 classes in a career-expediting spell from 2020-24.
“Right from the start on Friday we were working in a good way and I felt strong on the bike, just missing passing straight to Q2. Still, it was a big step from Jerez where we were still lacking in one lap pace.
“In qualifying I knew I could trust my instincts and go it alone. I managed one of my best laps of the season to secure a place in Q2. I hadn’t felt that good on the bike since the crash in Brazil so it was really special to feel like that…like I was getting back to where I was which makes me feel really happy.
“In Q2 I went again alone. For sure there are some advantages going with the group but I had to back myself and I knew I would be able to get the most out of the session if I went alone because for sure in the group there would be games.
“My best sectors were not all together so that cost me a top 10 spot on the grid but we were satisfied with P15 as it was another step forward.”
Buchanan has only cracked the top-10 in qualifying once – 8th at Germany in that career best Moto3 weekend last July.
If he can just keep the rubber on the road in Catalunya, watch out. There’s an awful long way to go to eclipse the 32 points he collected for 20th place overall in his rookie season but Buchanan won’t stop trying.
“My pace was super consistent [at Le Mans], every lap within one or two tenths of a second of my best which would have bode well in a dry race. So, the positives definitely outweigh that one moment [his crash].”
Roll on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.