José María López ecstatic with victory: “I didn’t know when I was going to win again”

On the scene of one of his more sensational performances a year ago, when the Argentinian went from dead-last on the grid to claiming then only his third career victory in the WTCC, López went on to take his 16th win in the championship on Sunday, moving clear of Augusto Farfus in the record books, with three-time champion Andy Praiulx’s tally of 18 his next target.

After a busy first race where he battled with his closest championship rival Yvan Muller throughout but eventually had to settle for third where he’d qualified, things were more exciting for the reigning champion in race two, with López launching from eighth on the grid to fourth at the start, which became third when Sébastien Loeb Racing driver Mehdi Bennani received a drive-through penalty for a jump start.

López had a coming together on lap seven with Monteiro at Turn 1, which the stewards deemed a racing incident, but still found himself third as Citroën team-mate Ma Qing Hua was able to sneak by during the incident.

López passed Ma four laps later, and then closed in on race leader Norbert Michelisz, taking the lead with two laps to go and taking his fifth win of the season, critically extending his points lead.

“I’m just enjoying it because I didn’t know when I was going to win again,” said López. “It’s been four races and people were asking why I was not winning? But (to me), it’s normal because I have drivers next to me who are very, very good. They are two great champions (Yvan Muller & Sébastien Loeb) and Ma also showed the speed.

“I was working hard for it and sometimes they are quicker than me and stronger than me. For me it was a release a little bit, I needed it but the emotion was more because the race was very difficult, passing some people, having some contact.”