'We did it': Southlander signs for Moto3 World Championship
“It’s been such a crazy trajectory, to be honest, it’s been such a quick growth path I’ve been on.”
Cormac Buchanan’s remarkable rise continues with the 18-year-old set to become the first Kiwi to line up in the Moto3 World Championship.
The Southlander has been signed by Spanish team BOE Motorsports in a major step forward in his racing progression.
“To be the first Kiwi in Moto3 is pretty cool,” Buchanan said.
He is the first full-time Kiwi racer in the MotoGP ranks since Simon Crafar nearly 25 years ago.
It has been an intense and demanding ride for Buchanan to get to the point he is at now, although in some parts it’s all happened in very quick time.
When he signed his new contract this week it was five years to the day that Buchanan won his first race as a kid at Teretonga Park in Invercargill.
“It’s probably the biggest box of them [to tick] yet. It’s certainly super exciting and super cool for it to happen,” Buchanan told The Tribune from Spain on Sunday morning.
“It feels like yesterday we were first coming over to Spain, and two or three years later we are a World Championship rider. It’s hard to put into words.
“It’s been such a crazy trajectory, to be honest, it’s been such a quick growth path I’ve been on.”
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While the contract to race in the Moto3 World Championship is a massive achievement, the Southland teenager made it clear he isn’t content.
The pecking order is MotoGP, Moto2, and Moto3, and Buchanan is determined to one day be the best on the planet in the MotoGP ranks.
“It’s kind of like a lad der. People ask if it’s a dream come true [to make Moto3] and honestly, it’s no, because the dream is the ultimate goal, and that’s years and years into the future. My dream is to be a MotoGP world champion,” Buchanan said.
“Getting into the Moto3 World Championship is just a step to achieve that. [Moto3] is not a dream come true, but it’s a step closer to my dream.”
Buchanan has again been in Europe this year competing in the World JuniorGP Championships.
With one round to go, Buchanan sits 8th in the overall standings.
The final round will be held in Portugal this coming weekend and Buchanan is determined to finish well in what will be his final outing for his current team AGR Racing.
The day after that final round of the World JuniorGP Championships he will fly back to New Zealand for a bit of time at home in Invercargill.
Buchanan will then head back to Europe in January to begin testing in February in the lead up to the Moto3 World Championship, which will see him race right throughout the world in 2025.
It will include a round in Australia which Buchanan is excited about given it’s closer to home for family and friends to get to watch him race.
Buchanan paid tribute to everyone who has backed him to the point that he is now eyeing a season in the Moto3 World Championship - particularly his parents Kate and Stacey.
“To get to this stage it takes a lot of sacrifice and obviously you can’t do it on your own.
“My parents and my family, the amount they have put in, it’s incredible. The amount of sacrifice they’ve had to do to get to this point, and we’ve still got a lot further to go.
“It wouldn’t have been possible without the support of my parents, as well as all of the people back home in New Zealand.
“The people that started watching me when I first ever started out riding bikes, they have been on this journey with me.”
Simon Crafar, who will next year take on the prestigious role of Chairman of the FIM MotoGP Stewards Panel, said Buchanan’s Moto3 call up was “amazing news”.
‘It's wonderful for Cormac to reach his personal goal of becoming a fulltime world championship rider, but it's also exciting news for us proud, sport loving Kiwi's. Becoming a full time Grand Prix rider is a rare and special achievement. Cormac has dedicated most of his young life to achieving it and his family have sacrificed more than we will know, but this is only the beginning,” he said.
“Making it to world championship is like getting selected for a national team. The hardest test starts now. The highs and lows of brutal competition over the next couple of years will forge Cormac into a new, tougher version of himself. Let's all let him know that we are behind him.”