José María López

José María López (born 26 April 1983 in Río Tercero, Córdoba, Argentina) is an Argentine racing driver, who completed in the FIA GP2 Series between 2005 and 2006. Nicknamed in the paddock as "Pechito", López would claim one race win in his time in GP2, before leaving the series to join the American Le Mans Series.

López entered the inaugural 2005 season with DAMS, having raced in the Series' predecessor, the International Formula 3000 championship in 2004. The Argentine would score one win at the 2005 Barcelona Sprint Race, although crashes and a long pointless run saw the Argentine slump to ninth in the Championship.

For 2006 López transferred to Super Nova Racing, although he would again struggle across the season after a number of mechanical retirements. Indeed, López ended his second GP2 campaign in tenth in the Championship having retired from half of the season's races, prompting him to leave the series at the end of the season.

After leaving GP2, López would bounce across various series, before landing a factory seat in the World Touring Car Championship with Citroën. There, López would really show his form, winning the WTCC three seasons in a row, before moving to the FIA Formula E Championship in 2016. After that, López secured a factory seat with Toyota in the FIA World Endurance Championship, finishing runner-up in 2018-19.

Background
López's career began in his native Argentina, bouncing across various karting series before a move to Europe in 2001, where he joined the Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup. Seventeenth at the end of the season saw the Argentine remain in the Series for 2002, with the Argentine duly winning the championship after a duel with Robert Kubica. A promotion to the V6 class followed in 2003, with DAMS employing the Argentine's services for the campaign, while the Renault Formula One team would evaluate the Argentine.

International Notions: 2003 - 2004
With DAMS backing López enjoyed another strong season, claiming the 2003 V6 Eurocup title with six victories. That prompted the Renault Driver Development Programme to sign López, with their funding seeing the Argentine move to International Formula 3000. López would enjoy a reasonable campaign in the final F3000 season, claiming sixth in the Championship with two podium finishes.

GP2 Series Career
López rejoined DAMS ahead of the 2005 season, with the Argentine taking over as their lead driver in the inaugural FIA GP2 Series that season. Partnering Fairuz Fauzy for the season, López was issued with #14 as his race number after the Pre-Season Test, and would open the season on the podium with second at the opening race in Imola.

Post GP2 Series Career
López left GP2 at the end of 2006, instead returning to his native Argentina to race in TC2000 Argentina, as well as the American Le Mans Series in 2007. A title in TC2000 Argentina followed in 2008, with López also racing in FIA GT1, before the Argentine claimed the 2009 title in Top Race V6 Argentina, as well as a second TC2000 title. In 2010 López was signed as the lead driver for the new US F1 Team, only to cancel his contract when the USF1 project folded and miss out on a seat with Hispania to Karun Chandhok.

Touring Totals: 2010 - 2016
With his F1 dream over, López again spent time in his native Argentina in the TC2000 series, claiming his third title in 2012. He would also make a one-off appearance in the World Touring Car Championship in 2013, winning his second race, before securing a full factory seat in the WTCC with Citroën for 2014. That proved to be a fateful move for the Argentine, with López going on to claim three straight WTCC titles in 2014, 2015 and 2016 before the French manufacturer ended their WTCC effort.

FE and WEC: 2016 - 2020
With his WTCC career over, López secured a move to the FIA Formula E Championship, joining Sam Bird at Virgin Racing. The Argentine would also sign up to the factory Toyota FIA World Endurance Championship programme, although he would fail to win in either series. The Argentine would remain in both series in 2017/18 and 2018/19, finishing second in WEC in 2018/19, while failing to register another podium in two more campaigns in FE.

After leaving the Dragon Racing team at the end of the 2018/19 season, López would full commit to the WEC in 2019/20, and would lead the Championship alongside Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi.

Full GP2 Series Record
Shown below are a series of tables outlining 's career in the GP2 Series in statistical form.

GP2 Series Entries
The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for during their GP2 career:

Career Results
Below is a table showing 's full GP2 Series record.