José María López proud of his World title

José María López was crowned champion after the first race at Suzuka, Japan. Despite only needing to finish in fourth, the Citroën driver celebrated in style by winning the first race in a dominant way.

The Argentinian was very emotional as he celebrated his first World title:”I am very proud to be the first Argentinian FIA World Champion since Juan Manuel Fangio 57 years ago,” said López. I would like to thank everyone involved, Citroën, my family and my fans for this achievement. If I could choose a place to win the championship I would have said Suzuka, because my idol Ayrton Senna clinched two F1 titles here and it only adds to my pride.”

López revealed that, although he wanted to win the race, he would have let his team-mate Yvan Muller through had the Frenchman been faster than him, in order to avoid trouble:”I just wanted to do my job properly, but if I had any problem and Yvan was faster than me I would have avoided fighting. I knew a fourth place would have been enough to secure the championship, although of course I wanted to win.”

The Argentinian believes his good start was the key to his race win:”I probably had the best start of the year. From the first lap I started to pull away, so that gave me confidence. Unfortunately Yvan had a problem, and after that I just saved the car and brought it home, although it felt like a 50-lap race.”

Speaking of his feelings, López was at a loss of explaining his emotions:”It’s just hard to explain. It is a big achievement for me and for Argentina, especially because I am the first champion since Fangio, who triggered our passion for motorsport back in the fifties. I have a lot of supporters and I expect to be invited to the Casa Rosada, I am very proud to wear the colours of my country and to represent it in such a high profile championship. This is not the best period for Argentina, but it adds to my joy knowing that people are celebrating for a great achievement and having a good time because of me.”

López scored nine wins so far this season in his rookie year in the World Touring Car Championship.