You are a three-time WTCC champion. Why made you choose endurance racing for this season?

"Because I was looking for a bigger challenge. I know in the WTCC I had the opportunity to keep going as a driver, to have the possiblity of driving a much quicker car. I think it's a step forward in my career, you know. It's a place a lot of drivers would like to be. It's not like I was feeling the WTCC was not enough for me. I think it was a good part of my career, for me to be back in Europe, it gave me three world titles, without that I wouldn't be here today. But I definitely think that today I am at a higher level. It's another level and I am really happy to be here."  

What do you expect of this World Endurance Championship season?

"The World Endurance Championship is very competitive. You have the strongest drivers, manufacturers and cars in the world. I think it's a great championship and I am really happy to be part of it. going to be a great fight. I think we are coming back stronger this year, with a good car. But there's still a long way to go, they changed a lot especially with this car with the updates we can do. I think it's going to be very exciting, you know Porsche is still the favorite, they've been dominating for two years. We've been working hard and so far the work we did over the winter has paid off today, but there's still a long way to go." 

The 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place in less than two months. What does the race mean to you?

"It has been a dream more than an ambition. Just to be a part of this race this year with an LMP1 car in the head category is amazing. I'm really looking forward to being there. Le Mans is a very crucial race. I think that's why it's so important, so mythic. Everyone knows Le Mans, everyone wants to be at Le Mans, everyone wants to win Le Mans, even the Formula 1 drivers. You know, we are working hard, we have done a fanstastic job with the car. Preparation is hard but it's a 24-hour race. Today you don't win Le Mans by doing a clean race, you have to do a clean race and also be quick. So, we'll see. We'll see. We really hope to be competitive, at least be in the fight. If you're in the fight you have a chance." 

How do you handle sharing the car with teammates?

"I think it has been one of the easiest things to get used to be because honestly when I am not in the car, I know I have drivers who are the same or actually quicker or better drivers than me so you're sharing the car, but you're sharing the car with the best drivers (Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi, Ed.) so you don't really worry about it. You know that the guy in the car makes it work as good or better than you. You leave the race behind the screen. Normally you are part of the race 100%, but here you are part of the race maybe 40%, that's the hardest thing for me."

What is the hardest for you?  

"I think it's going to be the traffic. My first free practice was yesterday so yeah I have to learn a lot about it and not make mistakes which are really easy to make."

Do you have a particular way of preparing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

"Well I've been doing everything ever since I started this program. Training harder, you know physically it is much more demanding than touring car. Physically, in your head...everything is more demanding. The speed of the car is much quicker. You need to be much more aware, much more focused. The preparation has been going on a year already but for Le Mans I have to prepare even harder. I'm the newest guy, I arrive at every track and I don't know the track and don't kow how to race these cars on those tracks. If I want to keep the same level as the other drivers I need to work even harder."

Since this interview, José María López has had an incident with the #7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID at the Copse turn during the 6 Hours of Silverstone, the first race on the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) calendar. It was scarier than it was harmful, as the Argentinian driver explains: The race started really well but then we had the anti-roll bar problem at the end of Mike’s (Conway, Ed.) stint. Kamui (Kobayashi, Ed.) did really well to keep us in the race and I was so looking forward to getting in the car. It started raining and when I was going into Copse I had the problem. It was a little bit a combination of the anti-roll bar, the wet and I touched the kerb with my rear tyre. It was a big impact and at the beginning I felt some pain so I’m happy that all the checks showed no problems. Now I’m ready to come back for Spa."

The quotation after the race was taken from a team press release. 

Photo: Copyright - Laurent Cartalade/VSA