Buchanan finished less than a second off the lead in every session in Italy at round seven of the Moto3 World Championship.
A dominant fifth in a wet first practice boosted his confidence from the outset. He was 18th in practice — just 0.8sec off the fastest time set — and an impressive third in qualifying was enough for promotion into qualifying 2 for the third time
this season.
Buchanan made a clean start to the race and settled comfortably within the group battling for points.
However, when he was about to launch his final attack the aggressiveness and constant overtaking among the riders ultimately fragmented the group.
He was forced to settle for 19th, 5.7sec behind the winner.
‘‘I had a lot of pace and a lot of rhythm but I wasn’t able to use it.
‘‘I was in the lead group for the majority of the race, sitting 2sec from the front. There were moments where we split away a bit but when I went back on to the front of the group I was able to close it back up again.
‘‘Then other riders were more interested in battling for that position than getting back to the front group — it was almost like a yo-yo effect, which was annoying for me as I knew, when I had clear air in front of me, I had faster pace than the leaders were doing.
‘‘In the last five laps, we got splintered away from the lead because another rider was being an idiot and riding slowly... With that went my chances of fighting in the lead group for the top positions.
‘‘It’s upsetting because I truly believe I had the pace to be right in the mix. At a track like Mugello, you can do all the work in the corners but it means nothing when you keep getting passed down the straight.’’
The next round of the championship is the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend. — Allied Media
