Jose Maria Lopez says that his overall victory in this past weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans is a dream come true.
Lopez, alongside Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway, led a Toyota one-two in the 89th running of the French endurance classic as team-mates Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima came home in second place after winning in 2020.
For Lopez, Kobayashi and Conway, it is their first overall victory at Le Mans as a trio after missing out on victory to the sister car three times for various reasons.
Speaking during the post-race press conference, Lopez spoke about what it meant for him to finally stand on the top step at Le Mans.
“Hard to believe,” said Lopez. “We came through a few Le Mans which were quite tough for us as a crew. Being part of this is amazing. It’s a dream come true honestly. I came so far so many years for this dream”
“I couldn’t choose better team-mates. Mike and Kamui, they’re like brothers for me now and the things they have done, I have seen them doing things in the car – amazing. So I am very lucky to have them.
“And of course the team. The team has worked hard. In the end, we take the glory, we jump on the podium, but behind us there is more than 600 people back in Cologne, more than thousand back in Japan, working and making this happen. The Hypercar, a new car, the first time it has raced at Le Mans.”
It was far from an easy run to the flag for the trio, with both cars suffering from fuel flow issues in the final quarter of the twice-around-the-clock enduro.
This initially led to problems for both cars, with them consecutively completing shorter and shorter stints as the problem meant that the full, twelve lap stints could be completed.
The team found a workaround which needed to be implemented by the drivers behind the wheel, which eventually allowed them to keep both cars running out on track and making it to the chequered flag.
“To make it to the end wasn’t easy,” Lopez continued. “We had to work, the last six, seven hours. We had a fuel issues, but as a team we came through and I think that is the most valuable thing we did for today.”
Lopez’ victory marks something of historical milestone for the Argentinean driver. Not only did the 38-year-old add to his already lenghty list of personal accolades, which already included three World Touring Car Championship titles and the WEC world title in 2020, he also became only the second driver in his country’s history to take overall victory at Le Mans.
The only driver from Argentina to have won the race overall prior to Lopez’ victory on Sunday was the late José Froilán González. The Pampas Bull, as González was often nicknamed, won overall in 1954 alongside Maurice Trintignant in a factory-entered Ferrari 375 Plus.
Since then, no other driver from Argentina, including the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio, was able to follow up on González’ achievement.
With Lopez’ win on Sunday, he ends a 67-year drought for the South American nation.
