What was the reason for the long break of Mercedes-AMG works driver Luca Stolz, why he was lucky in his misfortune and how he is doing before the Saudi Arabia assignment
After his DNF at the DTM finale at Hockenheim for health reasons, Luca Stolz will make his comeback next weekend at the GT World Challenge Europe (GTWCE) finale in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. “I’m fine,” says the 29-year-old Mercedes-AMG works driver, who now feels “fit again”.
“I took enough time to get completely better. Since there was no race scheduled for me immediately after Hockenheim, I managed to do that quite well,”
But what was the reason for the two-time DTM race winner being out of action for weeks?
Proudly wanted to avoid “serious health consequences”
“I obviously caught something before the Intercontinental GT Challenge finale in Indianapolis on the first weekend in October and only did short stints there,” he says, referring to the eight-hour race on October 5, in which he shared the car with IndyCar champion Alex Palou and Fabian Schiller.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t really get any better in the two weeks leading up to the DTM finale at the Hockenheimring either.”
For this reason, Stolz decided not to take any unnecessary risks, which is why Mercedes-AMG colleague Jules Gounon took over his cockpit at the HRT team. “Since a delayed infection can have serious health consequences, I finally decided with a heavy heart not to drive in the DTM finale at Hockenheim,” explains Stolz.
In the meantime, the fast man is already back in training, but according to his own statements, he has not been in the race car since the race in Indianapolis almost two months ago.
“Even before Hockenheim, the plan was that the only race left for me would be in Jeddah. In the meantime, there were no more tests on my program either,” he clarifies, adding that the timing was favorable under the circumstances.
At the GTWCE Endurance Series finale, Stolz shares the GetSpeed team’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the Pro Cup with his team-mates Gounon and Fabian Schiller. The trio are twelfth in the drivers’ championship ahead of the finale.
But the period after that will also be interesting, because Stolz’s long-term DTM team HRT is switching to Ford in 2025.