Jose Maria Lopez has enjoyed a hugely successful career, taking the overall victory at Le Mans in 2021 with Toyota.
The Argentinian driver has been blisteringly fast in the World Endurance Championship, winning the title twice and finishing on the podium at every race in both those years.
Lopez switched his focus to the LMGT3 class for this season with Lexus, being replaced by former Formula 1 driver Nyck de Vries at Toyota.
The Japanese manufacturer entered two cars into the World Endurance Championship with a competitive line-up of drivers in LMGT3.
Lopez was partnered by last year’s Eurocup-3 champion Esteban Masson, who moved from single-seaters to endurance racing.
Despite the Argentinian continuing in the WEC with very quick teammates, Lopez explained to the Corazon de F1 YouTube channel why the year was so difficult.
Jose Maria Lopez had ‘the worst’ year of his career as the results were so lacklustre
Lopez had become used to winning and standing on the podium in the WEC after a lengthy period of success with Toyota in LMP1 and Hypercar.
The Argentinian’s season was very different this year, with the team struggling to score points and being very uncompetitive across the campaign.
These fortunes in the world championship were very different from Lexus’s campaign in IMSA in North America. The No. 14 car finished fourth in the GTD Pro class and won at Sebring.
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Lopez explained why the season was difficult for him and what could have made 2024 even tougher for the Lexus driver.
He said: “It was not an easy year without a doubt in terms of my sporting career it seems to me that in terms of results it has been the worst.
“I was never someone who paid a lot of attention to results. Otherwise, I think it would’ve been harder, but let’s say not. It’s not, or it is beyond that. It is important, for I have always managed myself by feeling.
“But if it is difficult, it is difficult for the whole team because we are not talking about results, but we have been very far all year from any possibility of fighting.”
The LMGT3 car is very different to the Hypercar which Jose Maria Lopez was used to
Lopez switched to GT cars after competing for Toyota in the top category since 2017, and the LMGT3s are much slower.
They are around 15 seconds a lap slower than the Hypercars, which require the driver to adjust their technique behind the wheel and at braking points.
Valentino Rossi had some concerns about testing the BMW Hypercar after he competed in the LMGT3 class this season given the jump in performance was so significant.