Due to health reasons, Lucy Glöckner will not compete in the full IDM Superbike 1000 season, but will instead focus on select wildcard races. At Glöckner’s request, Team GERT56 has named Julian Puffe as its permanent rider.
Lucy Glöckner has decided not to take up her spot in Germany’s top motorcycle racing class due to health issues. The 30-year-old from Saxony has a series of medical checkups scheduled for the coming weeks. Glöckner already informed her team last week. Her regular spot on the BMW M 1000 RR will be taken by Julian Puffe, not least at her own request. Puffe was initially scheduled to serve as a test and development rider at GERT56 and joined the team later on. His role as a regular rider was actually not planned until 2022. Now, the 2019 IDM Superbike 1000 runner-up is unexpectedly facing the full season ahead of schedule and will even play the leading role at GERT56 at the season opener in Oschersleben this coming weekend. Like Glöckner, Toni Finsterbusch will not be traveling, as his injured ankle is still hampering his riding.
Lucy Glöckner did not take the decision to step down as a full-time rider for 2021 lightly. “Over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a drop in my performance during training that neither I nor my doctors have been able to explain so far. The symptoms range from shortness of breath to cramps and heart palpitations, all the way to the well-known sensation of ‘seeing stars.’ But I don’t want to be a danger to myself, others, or my team on the track. I spoke at length with our team manager, Karsten Wolf, and for him, people and health also come first. He told me that my motorcycle will always be ready as soon as we’ve figured out the causes of all this with my doctors. This support gives me incredible strength and at the same time relieves my guilty conscience and takes away the pressure I’ve been putting on myself.”
At first, the news came as a shock to Karsten Wolf. But the team manager says: “At GERT56, the individual and their family have always come first. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for Lucy and hope to see her back in our ranks soon. A big thank you goes out to the Motorrad action team, who have really gone above and beyond in the last few days because everything has been happening so fast. That was really great.”