Southland teenage motorcycle racer Cormac Buchanan will compete in the 2023 JuniorGP World Championship in Europe.

Buchanan, 16, has re-signed with leading Spanish team AGR Racing and is excited at the prospect of a full campaign in the sport’s elite international ranks.

Based in Spain since March, Buchanan linked with AGR this season to compete in the European Talent Cup (ETC) division of the JuniorGP.

However, team manager Anscari Nadal identified his potential and in July promoted Buchanan to the world championship Moto3 category as a wildcard for the remaining four rounds at Portimao, Misano, Aragon and Valencia.

Buchanan was “very excited” to return to the professional AGR environment.

“These past few months riding the Moto3 bike, I feel like I’ve learned more than I have in my whole career and that’s thanks to Anscari and his team. There’s such a positive vibe with my crew chief Javi (Alba Sola) and my mechanics – we have built a strong relationship which is the key to our progress so far,” he said.

“I think the Moto3 suits me much better. You have to get everything right in order to make the perfect lap and I love that challenge. I feel like it suits my riding style more – the hard braking and sliding around on the edge of control which is the Moto3 specialty.

“The step up was the way to go and I’m really glad we’ve done it before next year so we aren’t going in blind. This has effectively been my pre-season for 2023 so now we can crank into it.”

Nadal said he was “delighted” to retain Buchanan on the team.

“My target as team manager is to take Cormac to the podium in the JuniorGP and after to go to Moto3 world championship. I’ve done this before with other riders and I think he will be the next one to go to GP from the AGR structure,” he said.

“He’s a hard worker, he has the right mindset, he learns fast and we are giving him the tools to explode and show his full potential. We don’t like the easy path – we like to take riders that are not in front, make them faster and take them to world championship and I think Cormac is the clear example as to what’s possible. He started this season in the middle pack of the European Talent Cup and now we are making front rows and top 10s in the Moto3 in the JuniorGP.

“I think next year we will have the target of podiums or maybe even victories and we want to make him ready to go to the world championship and I’m 100 percent sure we will reach this. I am very happy to work with a rider like him.”

Despite just three rounds under his belt, Buchanan’s progress on the Moto3 has been swift. At Motorland Aragon in Spain earlier this month, he was fastest in both FP1 and Q2 sessions to secure P3 on the grid and finished the race 9th overall to earn his first championship points.

“Aragon was definitely the biggest highlight for me so far. All weekend we were just feeling so good. Javi and I were working really well together analysing data and we had a clear plan about what we wanted to achieve in each session,” he said.

“To get P1 in two of the sessions and qualify on the front row, and then to back it up with my first points in the race was just the cherry on top. Being only my third ever weekend on the bike it makes it even more special and gives me great confidence going into next season.”

Buchanan, who also competes in the prestigious Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup championship in Europe, admits it has been a sharp learning curve since his first race in 2019 to now racing alongside the world’s best young talents. 

“Aragon was probably the first time in my career where I actually paused and reflected on what I have actually achieved and it did make me proud. Our trajectory has been really steep in a positive way. We’ve had a few hiccups along the way and that’s just part of it. Our aim is definitely to continue tracking up from here and that bodes well for next year,” he said.

“My goal next season, and I think it is achievable, is to be in a position where we are fighting for race wins, podiums and ultimately the championship. The package AGR has given me is one of the best and I feel really confident on the bike and with the team around me.

“Putting that kiwi on the front row is something we want to do as much as possible. To be the first New Zealand racer in this championship, I hope it does pave a pathway for other New Zealanders to come over and do what I’m doing. Watching the race back it was nice to see that New Zealand flag in third place on the grid so we need to do more of that.”

After the final round of both the JuniorGP and Rookies Cup championships in Valencia, Buchanan returns home on November 10 to link up with the Yamaha Racing Development Team for the New Zealand season.

He will strive to defend the Supersport 300 title he won at the 2021 New Zealand Superbike Championship and debut in the Supersport 600 on a Yamaha YZF-R6.

“The aim is to maximise track time over the summer so I can return to Europe in the best shape possible,” he said.

“Stepping up to riding a Yamaha YZF-R6 comes with a different set of goals and I want to learn as much as we can from the front guys, while being as competitive as we can. It’s the best sort of racing I can do before I head back overseas for 2023.”