Jose Maria Lopez suffered a difficult season in the World Endurance Championship with Lexus as he moved from Hypercar to LMGT3.
The Argentinian switched his focus in the WEC from the top-tier Hypercar class as he moved to Lexus for this year, racing in the LMGT3 class.
Lopez wanted to remain within the Toyota family and didn’t look for another Hypercar seat after losing his drive to former Formula 1 driver Nyck de Vries.
The racing in LMGT3 is very competitive, with a mix of cars and configurations such as some entries having the engine in the front and Porsches being rear-engined.
Lexus struggled with the RC F GT3, failing to score a point over the eight-round campaign and retiring from the last round at the 8 Hours of Bahrain.
The Lexus is one of the older cars on the grid, and Lopez told the Corazon de F1 YouTube channel that one person in particular may have made life difficult for the team.
Jose Maria Lopez hints Takeshi Kimura is slightly below the level Lexus require in the WEC
Lopez has transitioned from the Hypercar class, where some of the best drivers in the world compete. This includes the Argentinian’s former teammates Sebastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley, who both raced in Formula 1.
The standard is incredibly high in the Hypercar class, but the LMGT3 category allows Bronze-rated, non-professional drivers.
He was partnered with Esteban Masson, who won the Eurocup-3 title last season, and Japanese driver Takeshi Kimura.
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The Bronze driver tends to bring a lot of financial backing, which helps them secure their seat and fund the team for the season.
Kimura brought money from his company, CarGuy, although Lopez feels his teammate may not have been as competitive as some other drivers in his category.
He said: “The bronze drivers in the WEC are very competitive, very similar to what a professional is, added to the fact that the car’s performance was not there and that, so we were very far away.
“It was difficult to get through the year, but, well, these years serve to enjoy more what is to come. I am very motivated to move the project forward, in which Toyota has trusted me, with my experience, to be able to move forward.”
Lexus are competing in WEC’s LMGT3 class with a 10-year-old car
Lopez suffered a difficult season as he adjusted to much slower lap times in the LMGT3 than the Hypercar class he was used to.
The Lexus driver had to deal with the RC F GT3, which is around 10 years old and much older than some of the other cars in the field.
Lopez feels 2024 was difficult because of Lexus’ lack of results in the World Endurance Championship and their inability to fight at the front of the LMGT3 class.