Photo: Citroën Racing

José María López to keep #37 on his car in 2015

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The 2014 World Touring Car champion José María López has confirmed he will continue to race with his lucky #37 on his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC next season, becoming the first driver in the championship’s history to not take up the option to carry the #1 on his car in his reigning season.

In previous years, Andy Priaulx, Gabriele Tarquini, Yvan Muller and Rob Huff have all taken the option to run #1 on their cars after winning the championship, with Priaulx carrying #1 in 2005 in the WTCC’s inaugural season in honour of his 2004 FIA European Touring Car Championship title.

López confirmed he will keep #37 on his Twitter account on Sunday.

A number of other drivers have numbers they traditional chose to run, including Yvan Muller who generally favours #12, the number he’s generally run with when he’s not been carrying #1 on his car, the exception being the 2010 season, when all the Chevrolet drivers ran sequential numbers from 6-8, with Muller #6.

Honda’s Tiago Monteiro also has an affinity with the #18, a number which he carried during his two seasons in Formula 1, which he’s almost always carried on his car in the WTCC except when SEAT preferred to group their drivers together with the low figures they earned after winning the manufacturers’ and drivers’ title.

Zengő Motorsport driver Norbert Michelisz has also carried the #5 on his car since joining the Championship in 2010.