Lukas Tulovic is convinced that there is more potential – But he would need more time, which he is not getting – In Indonesia it does not work out with World Championship points
In early October, the IntactGP team announced that Lukas Tulovic will no longer be part of the line-up in 2024. The German’s place will be taken by Senna Agius, who won the Moto2 European Championship. Darryn Binder will stay on for a second season.
After a 2019 Moto2 season with Kiefer, IntactGP has given Tulovic a second chance. But he won’t get a second year. “It’s a shame,” Tulovic told ServusTV. “I would have hoped to have another year to show progress.”
“I’m definitely convinced I have more potential. The year couldn’t have gone more shitty, to put it in good German, with all the injuries. I had a lot of crashes. I’m really convinced that more is possible and more potential is there.”
“But I just need more time. Unfortunately, I don’t get it. Too bad! Now I have to see what the plan B is and what there is to ride.” His future is open. The chances of remaining in the World Championship are slim.
In Indonesia, Tulovic reported back after an injury break. In India, he had broken his left collarbone and a metatarsal in a crash. That is why he had to take a break in Japan. Mandalika was a new track for him, which was not yet on the calendar in 2019.
In qualifying, the 23-year-old finished 26th on the grid. At the start of the race, there was an accident at the back of the field in turn 1. Alberto Surra and Alonso Lopez crashed. Tulovic had to take evasive action and drive a wide arc through the asphalt run-off zone.
This left him last. “Unfortunately, the race started very unfortunate because I had to avoid two fallen riders,” sighed the German. “But then I caught up strongly until I just managed to catch a highsider in turn 7.”
“This mishap cost me a lot of time. After that, the effects of the injury break became noticeable. Three weeks without a bike and not having trained optimally made the last two thirds of the race very tiring.”
“I couldn’t ride the bike as relaxed as I was supposed to be able to. So I just tried to finish the race. Next week it’s on to Australia where hopefully I’ll be in better shape.”
Tulovic eventually finished 22nd. “After the injury, it was not so easy to get back to the pace I left off with in India. Nevertheless, we improved steadily over the days, but unfortunately not enough,” is his Indonesia conclusion.
“Nevertheless,” says IntactGP team boss Jürgen Lingg, “I think he did a good job and made the most of the weekend. Little by little he can do his full training programme again and then things will go better for him.”
“The lack of training has set him back a bit, even more so in these conditions which are incredibly physically demanding. In addition, he was unlucky at the start because he had to go wide because of a fall in front of him.”
“From last place he worked his way forward well, but at some point he ran out of steam. But that was predictable,” said Lingg. Binder saw the chequered flag in 13th place, taking three World Championship points from Mandalika.
