José María "Pechito" López (born 26 April 1983) is a

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

race car Race, RACE or The Race may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

driver who is currently competing in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship, abbreviated as WEC, is a world championship for automobile endurance racing organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The se ...

with Akkodis ASP. He is three-time World Touring Champion with

Citroën Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, and two-time World Endurance Champion with

Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) is a motorsport division of the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota. Alongside competition activities, the division develops technologies for the Gazoo Racing (GR) sub-brand of Toyota's sports and performance-oriented pro ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, also becoming that last year the second Argentine driver to win the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

since

José Froilán González José Froilán González (5 October 1922 – 15 June 2013) was an Argentine racing driver, who competed in Formula One between and . Nicknamed "the Pampas Bull", González was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in wit ...

in 1954. López raced in the

2006 GP2 Series The 2006 GP2 Series season was the second season of the Formula One feeder championship GP2 Series. The season began at Circuit de Valencia, Spain on 8 April 2006 and ended in Monza, Italy on 10 September 2006. The championship was won by ART Gra ...

for the Super Nova team, and previously for the

DAMS A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...

team, and the CMS team in

Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championship ...

. He was also at

Renault F1 Renault, a French automobile manufacturer, has been associated with Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1977. In 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine ...

as a test driver. He was supposed to make his

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

debut in 2010 for

US F1 Team US F1 Team was a proposed Formula One team that was granted entry to the 2010 season. However, the team stopped work on its car and did not compete in 2010. It informed the FIA that it was not in a position to race and was removed from the off ...

but the team shut down before contesting a single race. On 16 December 2013 he joined the Citroën Total WTCC team for the World Touring Car Championship season. He won 10 races that year and clinched his first World Touring Car Championship. In

he repeated the feat, again winning 10 races and the championship. In 2016, he again retained the title with eight wins.

Career

Early career

López began in

karting Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motor ...

, before moving to the

Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup Formula Renault Eurocup was a Formula Renault motor racing championship. Eurocup raced only on European circuits. It served as a support series to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series as part of the World Series by Renault from 2005 to 2015. Renault S ...

in 2001, finishing in 17th position, taking one pole position and one fastest lap.http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/106/career/ Career statistics at Driver Database He stayed in the series for the 2002 season driving for

Cram Competition Cram Motorsport (formerly known as Cram Competition) is an auto racing team based in Italy. Cram started in 1994 out of the Tatuus racing department. It has participated in Formula Alfa Boxer, Formula Renault 2000, Formula 3 Germany, Formula Maste ...

, finishing in fourth position, taking one victory. He also drove for Cram in Italian Formula Renault that year, where he became champion, taking four wins, beating

Robert Kubica Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing driver, racing and rally driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for AF Corse. Kubica competed in Formula One between and , and the World Rally Championship ...

to the crown. He moved on to the

Formula Renault V6 Eurocup Formula Renault V6 Eurocup is a former type of formula racing, active from 2003 to 2004, started by Renault as a support series in Eurosport's Super Racing Weekends ( ETCC and FIA GT Championship). It was a Formula Renault 3.5 that include also ...

in 2003, making his first association with the

team, winning the title with five race wins.

Formula 3000 and GP2

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

López moved up to

International Formula 3000 The Formula 3000 International Championship was a motor racing series created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 1985 to become the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter Formula One. Formula Two had become to ...

with the CMS team, finishing sixth overall. He also continued in the V6 Eurocup that year, driving in four races. López raced in the inaugural season of the

GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Ecc ...

in 2005, making him one of only a select few drivers in the series who had previous experience of a full season in Formula 3000, the series which GP2 replaced. He finished ninth in the standings racing for the DAMS team. For 2006 he moved to the

Super Nova Racing Super Nova Racing was a British racing team that has competed in International Formula 3000, Formula 3000/GP2 Series, GP2 and the A1 Grand Prix series. History Super Nova first entered racing in 1991. Super Nova was a new incarnation of the p ...

team, finishing tenth in the standings.

Return to Argentina

In the early part of 2007, López raced in the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le M ...

, racing a

Ferrari 430 The Ferrari F430 (Type F131) is a sports car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari from 2004 until 2009 as a successor to the Ferrari 360. The car is an update to the 360 with exterior and performance changes. It was unveiled a ...

GT for Corsa Motorsports/White Lightning in the

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race for Sports car racing, sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in S ...

, and for Risi Competizione at St. Petersburg. López also returned to Argentina in 2007 to race in

TC 2000 The TC2000 (''Turismo Competición 2000'', formerly ''Súper TC2000'') is a touring car racing series held in Argentina since 1979. Rules Prior to 2012, engines of up to were allowed, with only limited modifications from standard engines ...

, the country's major production-based touring car championship. He was 5th that year, won the drivers' title in 2008, and successfully defended this crown in 2009. López also joined the

Turismo Carretera Turismo Carretera ( Road racing, lit., ''Road Touring'') is a popular stock car racing series in Argentina, and the 2nd oldest auto racing series still active in the world. The series is organized by Asociación Corredores de Turismo Carretera. ...

in 2008 and the

Top Race V6 Top Race V6 is a touring car race series held in Argentina. It was founded in 1997. The cars The Top Race V6 category sees the vehicles presented in silhouette form, with identical, strictly controlled mechanical specifications. Body styles cur ...

in 2009; he became TRV6 champion in 2009. He narrowly lost out on winning the 2009

title after crashing out on an oilspill on the 18th lap of the final race of the season, thereby losing the unique opportunity to win three different championships in the same season. He also competed in selected races of the

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

in 2008 for the ACA Argentina team.

Formula One

López was a member of the

Renault Driver Development The Alpine Academy, formerly known as the RF1 Driver Programme, Renault Driver Development and Renault Sport Academy, is a driver development programme to support young racing drivers through their careers. The programme was created by Renault i ...

programme between 2004 and 2006, and was test driver for

during the season. In November 2009 López confirmed that he had a deal in place with the new

to race in the

2010 Formula One season The 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 64th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. Red Bull Racing won its maiden Constructors' Championship with a 1–2 finish in Brazil, while Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel won the Driv ...

, provided he secured an eight million-dollar sponsorship package. Sources close to López claimed he already had eighty percent of the funds needed to secure his place in the team. López was announced as a driver for US F1 on 25 January 2010. Former F1 driver

Carlos Reutemann Carlos Alberto "Lole" Reutemann (12 April 1942 – 7 July 2021) was an Argentine racing driver and politician, who competed in Formula One from to and served as the Governor of Santa Fe from 1999 to 2003. Reutemann was runner-up in the Form ...

, a close friend of US F1 principal

Peter Windsor Peter David Windsor (born 11 April 1952) is a Formula One journalist, and former Formula One team and sponsorship manager. Career Windsor started his journalism career at the monthly magazine ''Competition Car''. He was the motorsport editor f ...

and a leading politician in Argentina, helped put the funding package together for López. Complications in USF1's progress and uncertainty over whether USF1 would be able to stay in F1 for 2010 caused rumours to surface that López was in talks with rival team Campos, to secure his place in F1. This was confirmed by his manager in late February. On 2 March 2010, he was freed from his contract due to US F1 not being able to attempt to race. On 4 March,

Karun Chandhok Karun Chandhok (; born 19 January 1984) is an Indian former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One at 11 Grands Prix from to . Chandhok also competed in Formula E for Mahindra Racing. Previously, Chandhok has competed fo ...

completed the 2010 grid by signing for Campos (later renamed as the Hispania Racing F1 Team), leaving López without a race drive.

Return to Argentina

In 2010, López remained driving for Honda in the Argentine TC 2000 championship, finishing 6th. In that year he was granted the Platinum

Konex Award Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation honouring Argentine cultural personalities. History and purpose Konex Awards are granted by the Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The p ...

as the best racing driver of the last decade in Argentina. For 2011 he switched to Fiat. In 2012, he won the (super) TC2000 championship for a third time, with privateer team PSG16.

World Touring Car Championship

He made his

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sing ...

début with

Wiechers-Sport Wiechers-Sport is a German auto racing team which is based in Nienburg, Lower Saxony, Nienburg. The team was first established in 1999, competing in German Touring car racing, touring cars. The team currently competes in the World Touring Car Cham ...

at the 2013 FIA WTCC Race of Argentina, substituting for their regular driver

Fredy Barth Frédéric Nicolas "Fredy" Barth (born 5 December 1979 in Lucerne) is an auto racing driver from Switzerland. He currently drives in the World Touring Car Championship. Racing career Early years Barth started out in karting before stepping up to ...

. He took both

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

Independents' Trophy victories and scored an overall victory in race two. In 2014, he moved to the Citroën team, and became 2014 World Touring Car Champion, clinching the title at Suzuka, thanks to his dominant race car -the Citroën C-Elysée WTCC that got 17 victories out of 23 races-, but also dominating his two team-mates :

Yvan Muller Yvan Muller (born 16 August 1969) is a French auto racing driver most noted for success in touring car racing. He is a four-time World Touring Car Championship, World Touring Car Champion, winning the title in 2008 with SEAT, in 2010 and 2011 wit ...

and the circuit races ''rookie''

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He ho ...

. José María López finished the season with ten victories, close to the

's record. In 2015, José María López expected to have more difficulties "''I am aware the competition is going to be much stronger because the other drivers are going to know me, they will push harder and you can see this already how Honda is pushing more, the Chevrolet drivers and the same in my Citroën team.''", yet he still dominated the first part of the season competition with his team-mates on the Citroën C-Elysée WTCC.

Formula E

In July 2016, López was confirmed as

DS Virgin Racing The Envision Racing Formula E Team is a British motor racing team, based at Silverstone Park and majority-owned by Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Envision Energy that competes in Formula E. Currently, the three drivers are Robin Frijns, Sé ...

's second driver for the third season of the

FIA Formula E Championship Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars. ...

and finished ninth in the Drivers' championship. He returned to Formula E for the 2017–18 campaign at the

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...

round for

Dragon Racing DS Penske (formerly Dragon Racing) is an auto racing team that is involved in many areas of motorsport. The team is based in the United States, but once competed under a French license. DS Penske was founded in 2007 as Dragon Racing by Americans ...

, replacing the outgoing

Neel Jani Neel Jani (born 8 December 1983) is a Swiss people, Swiss professional racing driver. He achieved his greatest success winning the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016 after first joining Porsche 919 Hybrid, Porsche's Le Mans Pro ...

Racing record

Racing career summary

^† As López was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete International Formula 3000 results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.)

Complete GP2 Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete GT1 World Championship results

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula E results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

^* Season still in progress.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key)(Races in bold indicate pole position)

Complete European Le Mans Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Jose Maria 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Córdoba Province, Argentina Argentine sportspeople of Spanish descent Argentine racing drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault V6 Eurocup drivers International Formula 3000 drivers GP2 Series drivers FIA GT Championship drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Turismo Carretera drivers TC 2000 Championship drivers Top Race V6 drivers FIA GT1 World Championship drivers World Touring Car Championship drivers World Touring Car Champions Stock Car Brasil drivers Formula E drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans winning drivers Súper TC 2000 drivers Cram Competition drivers DAMS drivers Super Nova Racing drivers Citroën Racing drivers Envision Virgin Racing drivers Dragon Racing drivers Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Aston Martin Racing drivers Scuderia Coloni drivers Action Express Racing drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Cool Racing drivers TCR South America Touring Car Championship drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers