WTCC star Lopez secures Toyota LMP1 deal

Three-time World Touring Car champion Jose Maria Lopez is set to join Toyota’s LMP1 crew for next season’s FIA World Endurance Championship.

Lopez, who has lifted the last three WTCC titles with Citroen – the most recent of which he sealed at Motegi in September – is reported to have already signed with Toyota for the 2017 season.

The Japanese team has not made a comment on reports of a deal, or who Lopez will replace in its line-up. The most likely candidate would be 41-year-old Stephane Sarrazin.

Lopez tested with Toyota last winter when he was weighing up his options following Citroen’s announcement it would withdraw from the WTCC at the end of 2016.

Prior to his all-conquering spell in the WTCC, Lopez raced Ferraris in the American Le Mans Series and FIA GT Championship in 2007-’08 and made a one-off appearance in an Aston Martin in the FIA GT1 World Championship in San Luis in 2010.