José María López

José María "Pechito" López
José María "Pechito" López
Born	April 26, 1983 (age 43); Argentina
Occupation	Racing driver
Years active	2001–present
Known for	Three-time WTCC champion (2014, 2015, 2016), two-time World Endurance Champion (2020, 2021), 24 Hours of Le Mans winner (2021)

José María "Pechito" López (born 26 April 1983) is an Argentine professional racing driver, currently active in the FIA World Endurance Championship representing Akkodis ASP. He has secured the WTCC title three times consecutively with Citroën during 2014, 2015, and 2016. Additionally, López earned the World Endurance Championship crown twice with Toyota Gazoo Racing in 2020 and 2021. Notably, in 2021 he became the second Argentine to win the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans since José Froilán González achieved this feat in 1954.

López competed in the 2006 season of the GP2 Series for Super Nova Racing, having previously driven for DAMS and CMS in International Formula 3000. He also worked as a test driver for Renault F1. Although he was slated to make his Formula One debut in 2010 with the US F1 Team, the team disbanded before participating in any races. On 16 December 2013, López was announced as a member of the Citroën Total WTCC squad for the 2014 World Touring Car Championship season. During that year, he won ten races, capturing his first WTCC championship. He successfully defended his title in 2015 with another ten victories and secured a third straight championship in 2016 by winning eight races.

Early career

López started his motorsport journey in karting before advancing to the Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup in 2001, where he finished seventeenth overall, recording one pole position and fastest lap. The following year, driving for Cram Competition, he improved significantly to fourth place overall, including one race win. In that same year, he clinched the Italian Formula Renault championship with four victories, outperforming competitor Robert Kubica. In 2003, López progressed to the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup with team DAMS, capturing the championship by winning five races.

Formula 3000 and GP2

In 2004, López advanced to compete in the International Formula 3000 series with CMS, concluding the season sixth in the standings while also participating in four races of the V6 Eurocup. He took part in the inaugural season of the GP2 Series in 2005 with DAMS, finishing ninth overall. The following year, he switched to Super Nova Racing, ending up tenth in the championship rankings.

Return to Argentina

At the beginning of 2007, López raced in the American Le Mans Series, piloting a Ferrari 430 GT for Corsa Motorsports/White Lightning during the 12 Hours of Sebring, and later competing for Risi Competizione at St. Petersburg.

Later that year, López returned to Argentina to compete in TC 2000, initially finishing fifth before securing back-to-back drivers' titles in both 2008 and 2009. He also participated in the Turismo Carretera series starting in 2008 and joined the Top Race V6 championship in 2009, where he won the title. In a dramatic turn during the final stages of the 2009 Turismo Carretera season, a crash cost him a potential triple-championship achievement across different categories.

Furthermore, López took part selectively in several rounds of the FIA GT Championship during 2008 representing ACA Argentina.

Formula One

Between 2004 and 2006, López was enrolled in the Renault Driver Development Program and served as a test driver for Renault F1 throughout a season.

In November 2009, he agreed to a conditional contract with the newly formed US F1 Team for the forthcoming 2010 Formula One season, dependent upon securing an $8 million sponsorship package. Reports suggested that approximately eighty percent of this funding had been obtained.

He was officially confirmed as a US F1 driver on 25 January 2010, benefiting from backing by former Formula One competitor and Argentine political figure Carlos Reutemann, who played a key role in assembling his financial support. However, ongoing delays and instability surrounding US F1 prompted López to engage in discussions with rival outfit Campos. His management confirmed these negotiations by late February.

On 2 March 2010, López was released from his agreement with US F1 after their failure to participate that season. Shortly thereafter, on 4 March, Campos (which later became Hispania Racing) signed Karun Chandhok instead, leaving López without a seat in Formula One.

Return to Argentina

In 2010, López remained with Honda to compete in the Argentine TC 2000 series, concluding the season in sixth place. That same year, he was honored with the Platinum Konex Award, recognizing him as Argentina's top racing driver of the decade. The following year, 2011, saw him transition to Fiat, and in 2012 he secured his third (super) TC2000 championship title while racing for the independent team PSG16.

World Touring Car Championship

López made his first appearance in the World Touring Car Championship during the 2013 FIA WTCC Race of Argentina, driving for Wiechers-Sport as a substitute for regular competitor Fredy Barth. He triumphed in both Yokohama Independents' Trophy races and also achieved an overall victory in the second race.

In 2014, López became part of Citroën Racing and captured the World Touring Car Championship crown at Suzuka. Piloting the highly competitive Citroën C-Elysée WTCC, which won 17 out of 23 races that season, he outperformed teammates Yvan Muller and newcomer Sébastien Loeb. López ended the year with ten race wins, coming close to matching Muller's record.

Looking ahead to 2015, López anticipated stronger challenges as competitors adapted to his approach and manufacturers such as Honda and Chevrolet intensified their campaigns. Nevertheless, he dominated the initial stages of the season alongside his Citroën colleagues.

Formula E

In July 2016, López signed with DS Virgin Racing as their second driver for the third season of the FIA Formula E Championship, finishing ninth overall in the Drivers' standings. He returned to Formula E for the 2017–18 season at the Marrakesh event with Dragon Racing, taking over from Neel Jani.

Racing career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2001	Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup	Lucidi Motorsport	10	2	1	1	2	24	17th
2002	Formula Renault 2000 Italia	Cram Competition	10	4	5	4	7	205	1st
2002	Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup	Cram Competition	6	1	1	0	3	100	4th
2003	Formula Renault V6 Eurocup	DAMS	18	5	8	8	12	354	1st
2004	Formula Renault V6 Eurocup	DAMS	4	0	1	0	0	2	27th
2004	International Formula 3000 Championship	CMS Performance	10	0	0	2	2	28	6th

^† López participated as a guest driver and was therefore not eligible to earn championship points.
^* The season is ongoing.

Full Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup results

(key) (Events shown in bold denote pole position; events in italics indicate the fastest lap.)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final Position	Points
2001	Lucidi Motorsport	MNZ 11	BRN 23	MAG 24	SIL Ret	ZOL Ret	HUN 10	A1R 11	NÜR 24	JAR 7	EST 6	17th	24
2002	Cram Competition	MAG	SIL	JAR 1	AND 7	OSC 4	SPA 2	IMO Ret	DON	EST 3		4th	100

Full Formula Renault 2.0 Italia results

(key) (Pole positions are in bold; fastest laps are in italics.)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final Standing	Points Total
2002	Cram Competition	VLL 13	PER Ret	PER 2	SPA 3	MAG 3	MNZ 1	VAR 1	IMO 5	MIS 1
								MUG 1	1st	205

Complete Formula Renault V6 Eurocup results

(key) (Pole positions are shown in bold; fastest laps are marked in italics)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Final Position	Points Total
2003	DAMS	CAT 1 Retired	CAT 2 13th	MAG 1 Retired	MAG 2 3rd	MON 3rd	DON 1 1st	DON 2 3rd	SPA1 7th	SPA2 1 2nd	SPA2 2 1st	AND 1 1st	AND 2 2nd	OSC 1 2nd	OSC 2 1st	EST 1 1st	EST 2 5th	MNZ 1 3rd	MNZ 2 Retired		Champion	354

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Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final Position	Points Total

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Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6

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Year	Team	1	2	DC	- \| 2004	DAMS																OSC < br > 1 < br > Ret	OSC < br > 2 < br > Ret	DUB < br > 1 < br > 12	DUB < br > 2 < br > 11	27th

International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races highlighted in bold denote pole positions, while those in italics represent fastest laps.)

Year

Team

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round10

Final Standing

-|

2004

CMS Performance

IMO
Retired

CAT
6th

MON
3rd

NÜR
5th

MAG
Retired

SIL
4th

HOC
6th

HUN
8th

SPA
3rd

MNZ
Retired

6th place

}

Full GP2 Series results

(key) (Races shown in bold denote pole position) (Races in italics denote fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	19
2005	DAMS	IMO FEA 2	IMO SPR 11	CAT FEA 6	CAT SPR 1	MON FEA Ret	NÜR FEA 13	NÜR SPR 14	MAG FEA 2	MAG SPR Ret	SIL FEA 9
SIL SPR DNS			A mixture of mid-field placements and retirements throughout the season									!9th !36
2006	Super Nova International	VAL FEA 5	VAL SPR Ret	IMO FEA Ret	IMO SPR 19^†
Generally mid to lower-tier finishes with several retirements in other races
10th	30

Full GT1 World Championship results

Year	Team	Vehicle	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Final Standing	Points Earned
2010	Young Driver AMR	Aston Martin DBR9	ABU QR	ABU CR	SIL QR	SIL CR	BRN QR	BRN CR	PRI QR	PRI CR	SPA QR	SPA CR	NÜR QR	NÜR CR	ALG QR	ALG CR	NAV QR	NAV CR	INT QR	INT CR	SAN QR Ret	SAN CR 5	37th	10

Full World Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Events in bold denote pole position) (Events in italics denote fastest lap)

... (Subsequent years' entries follow a similar format, condensed to highlight main outcomes and overall rankings)

Year	Team	Vehicle	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Pos.	Points
2013	Wiechers-Sport	BMW 320 TC	ITA 1	ITA 2	MAR 1	MAR 2	SVK 1	SVK 2	HUN 1	HUN 2	AUT 1	AUT 2	RUS 1	RUS 2	POR 1	POR 2	ARG 1 5	ARG 2 1	USA 1	USA 2	JPN 1	JPN 2	CHN 1	CHN 2	MAC 1	MAC 2	15th	35

Full Formula E results

(key) (Events in bold represent pole position; events in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Chassis	Powertrain	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final position	Points earned
2016–17	DS Virgin Racing	Spark SRT01-e	DS Virgin DSV-02	HKG Ret	MRK 10	BUE 10	MEX 6	MCO Ret	PAR 2	BER 4	BER 5	NYC	NYC	MTL Ret	MTL 3		9th	65

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} (Entries for subsequent seasons continue in matching style, summarizing key race placements and final championship standings) ^† Classified despite not finishing, having completed over ninety percent of the race distance.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans Results

Year	Team	Category	Chassis	Power Unit	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Final Position	Points Scored
2017	Toyota Gazoo Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	Toyota 2.4 L Turbo V6 (Hybrid)	SIL	SPA	LMS	NÜR	MEX	COA	FUJ	SHA	BHR	6th	84.5
2018–19	Toyota Gazoo Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	Toyota 2.4 L Turbo V6 (Hybrid)	SPA	LMS	SIL	FUJ	SHA	SEB	SPA	LMS		2nd	157
2019–20	Toyota Gazoo Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	Toyota 2.4 L Turbo V6 (Hybrid)	SIL	FUJ	SHA	BHR < br/>	COA < br/>	SPA < br/>	LMS < br/>	BHR < br/>		1st	207
2021	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Hypercar	Toyota GR010 Hybrid	Toyota 3.5 L Turbo V6 (Hybrid)	SPA < br/>	ALG < br/>	MNZ < br/>	LMS < br/>	BHR < br/>	BHR < br/>		1st	173

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2017	Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Toyota Gazoo Racing	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Nicolas Lapierre Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Yuji Kunimoto	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	160	DNF	DNF
2018	Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Toyota Gazoo Racing	Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Mike Conway Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Kamui Kobayashi	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	386	2nd	2nd
2019	Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Toyota Gazoo Racing	Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Mike Conway Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Kamui Kobayashi	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	385	2nd	2nd
2020	Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Toyota Gazoo Racing	Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Mike Conway Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Kamui Kobayashi	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	381	3rd	3rd
2021	Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Toyota Gazoo Racing	Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Mike Conway Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Kamui Kobayashi	Toyota GR010 Hybrid	Hypercar	371	1st	1st
2022	Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Toyota Gazoo Racing	Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Mike Conway Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Kamui Kobayashi	Toyota GR010 Hybrid	Hypercar	380	2nd	2nd
2023	Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Toyota Gazoo Racing	Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Mike Conway Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Kamui Kobayashi	Toyota GR010 Hybrid	Hypercar	103	DNF	DNF
2024	Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Toyota Gazoo Racing	Template:Country data JPN Template:Namespace detect showall Kamui Kobayashi Template:Country data NLD Template:Namespace detect showall Nyck de Vries	Toyota GR010 Hybrid	Hypercar	311	2nd	2nd
2025	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Akkodis ASP Team	Template:Country data AUT Template:Namespace detect showall Clemens Schmid Template:Country data ROM Template:Namespace detect showall Răzvan Umbrărescu	Lexus RC F GT3	LMGT3	340	37th	5th

Full IMSA SportsCar Championship Results

(key) (Events highlighted in bold denote pole position)

Year	Team	Category	Vehicle	Powertrain	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Overall Position	Points Accumulated
2022	Ally Cadillac	DPi	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8 engine	DAY 5th	SEB 6th	LBH	LGA	MDO	DET	WGL	MOS	ELK	PET	17th	566
2025	Vasser Sullivan Racing	GTD Pro	Lexus RC F GT3	Toyota 2UR-GSE 5.0 L V8 powerplant	DAY	SEB 11th	LGA	DET	WGL	MOS	ELK	VIR	IMS	PET	30th*	224*

Complete European Le Mans Series Results

(key) (Bolded races indicate pole positions; italicized results signify fastest laps)

Year	Team Entry	Category	Chassis Model	Engine Supplier	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Final Standing	Total Points
2023	Cool Racing	LMP2 Class	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 motor	CAT 4th	LEC 4th	ARA 5th	SPA 3rd	POR 4th	ALG 7th	6th Overall	69 Points

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