José María López is more than just the reigning FIA World Touring Car Champion – he’s a national hero following his capture of the WTCC crown at his first attempt in 2014. Here, the 31-year-old Argentine looks ahead to his title defence with Citroën Racing, which gets underway with his home event, the WTCC Race of Argentina, on 6-8 March.
You start the 2015 WTCC season as the reigning world champion. So is the message to your rivals this year going to be ‘catch me if you can’?
“I will remember 2014 for a long time, but every year is a fresh beginning and everything can change. I hope to do well and deliver, and if I can do the same year as I did in 2014 it will be great, but it will be very difficult.”
Just how difficult do you expect defending your WTCC title will be?
“I am aware the competition is going to be much stronger because the other drivers are going to know me, they will push harder and you can see this already how Honda is pushing more, the Chevrolet drivers and the same in my Citroën team. And there is a new car from LADA. I can see much more commitment from my team-mate Yvan [Muller]. He is pushing more and more. The competition is stronger, but at the end of the day I have to do my best. That’s the only thing that will work for me.”
What do you need to do differently this season?
“I ask myself how should I react, how should I approach the championship, but things have changed for the others, not for me. For me it’s exactly the same – I try to do my best. I don’t have to do better than I did last year because for me it was a great year, a record-breaking season in points and wins. I try to do the same, work exactly the same, be as quick as I was last year.”
So is there more to come from you as a driver?
“I have no secret. We all work hard and we all try to get the right feeling with the car, the engineer and the team. Then you manage to put that extra thing in to perform very well. There are still things to learn and I still have to deliver more.”
Has winning the WTCC title changed you in any way?
“I am more happy than before after the most amazing year of my career, but really it’s the same! Success in motorsport has been a bit thin since Juan Manuel Fangio but now we have a world champion again in Argentina. After winning the title the end of last year became very busy, but every morning I woke up feeling very happy. Happy with what I had achieved but happy to be with an exceptional team like Citroën, with three great team-mates and competing in this great championship. Now the focus is on the first race of the season and trying to do the best I can like I did last year.”
You could have run the #1 on your car but you have chosen to stick with #37. Why?
“I always had this number since my first year in Formula Renault. I always liked the idea to have a number that represents me, which people symbolise with me. In some series you can have it, in other ones you cannot. In the WTCC you can choose your number so I really prefer to have this number. I won the championship with that number and I want to try to win the championship again with the number 37.”
How have you prepared for the new season?
“I only did two days of testing but we have been working a lot in the factory and we have some upgrades for the car. We also do the simulator the same as last year, but last year I was doing a lot the simulator because I didn’t know the tracks. Whatever happens we will start in Argentina prepared.”
There have been some changes to the WTCC calendar for 2015. What’s your view on the new events?
“It’s nice and finishing in Qatar will mean we get the cars back to Europe earlier than we did after Macau. I guess the Nürburgring Nordschleife is really going to be the special race, really something interesting and something new for everyone.”
And finally, what’s your target for 2015?
“We hope that we can win the manufacturers’ championship again, but I think winning 17 races like last year won’t be possible because everyone is going to be more competitive this year right from the beginning. Then I will try my best to be world champion again.”