A chat with the double world champion, José María López

TouringCarTimes’ International Editor Pietro Casillo talks about watching José María López win his second title in Thailand, a year after watching the Argentinian achieve the same feat in Suzuka the year before, and reflects with the two-time champion on his path to becoming the latest star in touring car racing.

When I first met José María López, also known as “Pechito”, I was in Belgium, in Spa-Francorchamps, where I was writing a feature on the Münnich Motorsport team for TouringCarTimes. Being Citroën’s first year, to be honest I was very curious about meeting “His Majesty” Sébastien Loeb for the first time.

I never liked rally cars too much, but when someone is as successful as the Frenchman is, you can’t help being fascinated by such an incredible talent in the sport you love, although not exactly in your favourite discipline.

There I was, in the Citroën hospitality, taking a look around. Yvan Muller was a familiar face, and then I saw Loeb. I just shook hands with him as he was very busy with the local media. Taking a look around I saw Pechito for the first time, and it was not long before I found out he spoke Italian. We had a lovely chat and I remember thinking it would be a great story for the media if he won the championship.

A few months later I was fortunate enough to see that happening live on track, as our regular WTCC writer was elsewhere, as he clinched the title in a tense weekend in Suzuka 2014. I had spent a lot of time with him already; José is such a polite and open person you don’t just want to interview him, you want to have a chat with him and just be around this guy who is so talented behind the wheel, and yet is so easy going. I enjoyed seeing his joy.

Sometimes life gives you two incredible chances, and coincidences make it even more entertaining, so when I learned I would be in Thailand for TouringCarTimes for the second-to-last race of the year, with Pechito in with a strong chance to clinch the title, I thought “horses for courses!”. There I was again, and obviously it rang a bell for Pechito as well. I went to visit him several times in Buriram, and was the first to discover he had a tinnitus issue following the flight.

If you ask me, I think López was much more relaxed this year. The fact that he had an incredible gap over Yvan Muller (and I repeat, Yvan Muller, the touring car master) surely gave him confidence, but what I loved about it was that he never felt he had it all in his pocket and it would be easy. He kept the correct amount of pressure on himself and that was perhaps even more remarkable than just his achievements on the track.

When Race 1 was finished he was the champion again. I immediately ran to the Citroën garage because I wanted to see him celebrating. Race 2 was about to start, and yet he took the time to enjoy that time with the team, then with his girlfriend, supporters and even a phone call home, which was the most emotional moment.

I remember seeing José in tears, calling his dad “Viejo”, which means “old man”, and breaking down as he spoke to his father. That’s what makes you see the drivers, heroes in fantastic cars, as they are; men who just want to achieve success, who bet their lives on a dream for no guaranteed reward and then explode with joy when they achieve a result. Pechito’s was surely an impressive feature, a double World Championship crown.

That’s why I wanted a different angle. It’s only fair that when you win a championship you thank the team, the people who trusted you and everyone who made it possible. In the end, though, if you miss the best driver out of that package, you do not win. It is fair that they are the heroes, and it’s interesting to find out the man behind the hero.

“At the end of last year I knew it was going to be much more difficult,” said José María López. “I knew my team-mates-rivals were going to work even more and even harder to beat me. I had revealed my game last year. I knew the only way to make it again was to work even harder, and find something which would make me have the edge on some incredible champions. Now that I look back on it 2015 was even more incredible than last year.”

At that point I remarked that he had equalled a feature achieved by team-mate Yvan Muller of winning back-to-back titles, and he was in a position to reach Andy Priaulx’s three consecutive titles record in 2016: “Yvan has won four championships, but winning three in a row would be fantastic. Next year will be even more difficult, I think. This success I have enjoyed so far is incredible for me already, but if I work hard enough I will hopefully be able to challenge for a third crown. That would be an honour if I could do three in a row.”

I also spoke to Pechito to reflecting on his past, and particularly on the time when his Formula One dream faded when Renault pushed the Argentinian out of their programme: “If I had to single out one moment of discomfort it would be the day when the Renault Driver Development Programme chief called me and said I was not part of their 2007 project. I thought my dream was over. I sat on the floor and said to myself I had nowhere to go. There are so many drivers who almost get there, they give their lives for the sport and then lose it all through a phone call such as that, I was left with nothing.

“I was fortunate enough to be able to continue and eventually get here, win two World Championships and live a dream, but there are so many drivers who deserved much more and had to abandon racing after so many years spent trying to make a name for themselves, which means a lot of sacrifices. At that time, I was 23 years old and knew nothing about business or anything else, I wouldn’t have been able to start over. I didn’t know much about life either, I just knew how to race cars.”

Pechito also remarked how difficult it is for non-Europeans to try to climb up the motorsport ladder.

“It’s even worse for Latins,” he explained. “Not only did I have to stay home instead of going out with friends and enjoy myself like any guy of my age, I also had to leave my family behind, and that is very, very, very difficult for anyone. It tears your heart apart to be away from your family, and you do it because you are chasing your dream. I was on my own. I know so many young guys who are on their own, you have to appreciate the commitment, because it’s really tough.”

López explains why this was one of the first thoughts that crossed his mind when he realised he had won a second crown.

“For someone like me it’s just natural to come up with these thoughts in these moments of pure pleasure. Those moments are not good but they help you enjoy the small things in life, not just the big joys such as winning a World Championship. That is why, besides of course Citroën, without whom it would not have been possible to achieve this, I get emotional thanking my family and my girlfriend Vicky, who helped me through the struggles and now share the success with me.”