Citroën’s José María López celebrated his success in the 2014 World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Doha, Qatar on Friday by receiving his world championship trophy at the end-of-season FIA Prize-Giving Ceremony.
López became the first Argentine to win an FIA World Championship since Juan Manuel Fangio 57 years ago. He admits that his season has been “amazing”, which saw him set a new record for most wins (10) in a WTCC season and clinch the title early in Japan.
“It was an amazing season for me,” said López. “It was a long time, 57 years since the last world champion in Argentina, so it was a big thing in my country as well. So I really enjoyed it.
“Every race was surprising for me, arriving there, being on the pace. We had an amazing car so we fought inside the team for the championship. Still, waking up in the morning feeling very happy.”
López only once won both races in a weekend, but he did it in style by taking a double victory on home soil in Argentina, something he says was the highlight of the season.
“It was a the best moment for me in the year, because when I arrived at my home race, the only thing I wanted people to know was how fond we are of motor racing, how crazy we are for motor racing,” explained ‘Pechito’ López. “We have football and then it’s motor racing, so I just wanted to arrive on Sunday and see a lot of people. It was quite like this. We arrived and there was like 45,000 or 50,000 people, in a city, which is very far from the big city, so a lot of people came by bus to cheer my name.
“I ended up winning the two races, making pole position, scoring the maximum points possible, so it was amazing. Then when I arrived on the podium and everybody was singing the national song, it was quite an emotional moment as well.”
López acknowledged that at first he looked up to his two team-mates Sébastien Loeb and Yvan Muller, who between them have 14 World Championship titles.
“Sometimes it sounds stupid but I arrived on the first day of the Valencia test and I saw Sébastien coming. I’m from Cordoba so I lived rally for many years, I used to go two days before the stages with a tent, with my friend, making a barbecue, waiting for the cars to come. To have him next to me… to be honest in the beginning I wanted to make a picture with him all the time! But at the same time I was saying ‘no I have to keep cool, we are working’.
“Honestly, even with Yvan it was a little bit the same. The good thing is they received me in the team and they put me next to them like I’m one more. I felt like I was in the family already for a long time. That helped me, you know, for starting the season in strong shape.
“So the team was great, Sébastien, Yvan, everybody was very kind with me. Even if there was a competition between us because we end up winning many races this year, it was a nice competition. We knew our places in the team, we knew we could fight, we knew the objective of the team was trying to win the championship, so, it was a great year.”
Citroën Racing Team Principal Yves Matton collected the manufacturers’ title for the French brand, whilst Muller and Loeb were also present to collect their trophies for finishing second and third in the championship respectively.