José María López made the decision to leave the WTCC a year ago

Citroën Racing’s José María López has said plans were set in motion a year ago when the team confirmed it was to return to the World Rally Championship for 2017 to leave the WTCC, with Formula E the first thing on his agenda.

The Argentinian also said he couldn’t confirm speculation that he’s also going to join Toyota Racing for the 2017 World Endurance Championship, at least until his contract with Citroën is over.

“My decision was made more-or-less this time last year here, when Citroën made the decision to go to rally and stop the WTCC,” said López. “That’s something that doesn’t happen too often, to know one year ahead what the team’s going to do. That was good for us as drivers as we had the opportunity to work a bit on our future and see what was going on. I started to look a bit and Formula E was the first thing, which meant I could keep working with a few people that I know with Citroën.”

On whether he’d signed a deal to also race in the World Endurance Championship with Toyota, López was evasive but didn’t deny the rumour.

“I can’t confirm anything,” he said. “I still have a contract with Citroën until the end of the year. It’s one of my dreams to do Le Mans one day, and if I can do it in an LMP1 car that’ll be fantastic. It’s good everyone is speaking, but at the moment I can’t confirm anything.”

This weekend is López’s last in the WTCC, although the 33-year-old says he could return in the future as the door’s open for him to return, but for now he wants to try other formulae while he can.

“I’m going to look back and see these as my best three years in motorsport,” added López to TouringCarTimes. “(The years) when I became three times world champion, won at almost every track, and really enjoyed my time with an exceptional team. They adopted me as a member of their family. It’s a bit sad for a few reasons, but I’ll always look back and be smiling because it’s been a really good time for me and the team.”