What injuries Luca Engstler sustained in the Macau crash, how impatient the DTM race winner was during his recovery and when he sees himself in a race car
How is DTM driver Luca Engstler doing eight weeks after the most serious accident of his career? The 24-year-old went off in the dreaded Mandarin curve during qualifying for the GT classic in the urban canyons of Macau, thundered into the wall at 230 km/h according to the team, and was even unconscious later.
“It was quite a crash,” said Engstler, who needed a wheelchair after the accident. ”The big problem was that my right ankle was pretty badly damaged. I tore the outer ligaments and had quite a lot of bleeding in the tibia and fibula, which was a bit worrying.”
Walking also caused the Lamborghini junior, who sensationally won two DTM races this year and was competing in a GT3 car in Macau for the first time, “quite a long” problems, as he himself says.
“I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it”
“Well, I was even in a wheelchair for the first two or three days because I couldn’t do anything and every bone in my body hurt,” Engstler describes his condition. “I had bruises all over and everything was kind of difficult.”
Nevertheless, Engstler quickly gave the all-clear after the accident and was interviewed on the starting grid just before Sunday’s race, without crutches, only lightly supported by an umbrella. “It was important to me: I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it,” he says. “In the end it looked really bad, but it just goes to show how safe the cars are.”
There is no such thing as a small crash in Mandarin Bend. Even though it’s just a quick right hander, I’m convinced it’s one of the trickiest corners in all of racing. And Luca Engstler turned out to be its next victim.FIAGTWorldCup MacauGP pic.twitter.com/Xwf AWx1Y31
— Vincent Bruins (@VincentJBruins) November 15, 2024
In the past few days, Engstler took advantage of the winter break at Engstler Motorsport and went on a motorhome vacation in Sweden with his best friend. Now he is out jogging.
Engstler on his condition: “Now back to 95 percent”
“I went jogging for the first time again, so everything is fine again,” he says. ‘I would say that I am now back to 95 percent and have no lasting damage.’
After the accident, he worked on his recovery in the Allgäu region of Germany, ‘with a few friends who are physios or doctors.’ ”I was well looked after there.”
Nevertheless, Engstler admits that he became impatient during the healing process. “I was told that I shouldn’t or couldn’t do any sport again until the beginning of February, but of course I couldn’t let that sit with me,” he grins – hinting that he started training earlier than that.
When will Engstler return to the race car?
“The biggest issue now is to get that complete stability back,” he explains. “I’m training through the pain, feeling good about it now, and I’m fully back to work.”
He also wants to get back behind the wheel soon, even if it’s not a race car to begin with. “I definitely want to go karting next week to get back to the basics,” explains Engstler. “Then I’d like to get back in the car in February or March before the big tests start.”
