Photo: Citroën Racing

José María López to keep #37 for 2016 season

Unsurprisingly, two-time champion José María López will not break with tradition when he races with the #37 on his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC in 2016, turning down the option of carrying #1 on his car.

The 2014-15 champion has raced with #37 throughout much of his racing career, and was the first WTCC driver to turn down the entitlement to race with #1 on his car last season.

“I always had this number since my first year in Formula Renault,” said López to fiawtcc.com. “I always liked the idea to have a number that represents me, that people symbolise with me. In some series you can have it, in other ones you cannot. In (the WTCC) you can so I really prefer to have this number. It’s been with me, I won the championship with that number and I want to try to win the championship again with the number 37.”

López’s decision in 2014 preceded Formula 1 champion’s Lewis Hamilton opting to do the same, keeping the #44 as Formula 1 has recently allowed drivers to race with dedicated numbers for their career.

Other drivers on the WTCC grid to have an attachment to race numbers include Tiago Monteiro, who has opted to race #18, his number from his two seasons in Formula 1, throughout much of his WTCC career, while new Honda team-mate Norbert Michelisz has kept #5 since he joined the championship in 2010.