GT1: Lopez set for AMR seat in Argentina

The Young Driver Aston Martin squad has signed Jose Maria Lopez for this weekend’s World GT1 season finale in Argentina.

The 27-year-old joins Stefan Mucke in the #8 DBR9 in an effort to support team-mates Tomas Enge and Darren Turner who are fighting for the championship.

Lopez, who replaces Christoffer Nygaard, will be the team’s sole driver with experience of the San Luis circuit after racing there during Argentina’s FIA GT Championship round in 2008.

And team boss Hardy Fischer, whose #7 crew lie 28 points adrift of Vitaphone Maserati's Andrea Bertolini and Michael Bartels in the standings, believes that local knowledge will prove vital in overhauling their sizable deficit.

"We are fighting for the world championship in Argentina," he said. "Darren and Tomas are the only two drivers who can challenge the championship leaders and we also aim for the second place in the team championship.

"The track is new to most of the teams and drivers, so we decided to take advantage of having one local driver with track knowledge in the team.

"It was a tough decision to change the drivers for the last round, but with this championship being so tight and having so limited practice time, we think it will be an advantage for our entire team to have someone with a good track knowledge on board.

"Jose Maria knows the track from the FIA GT Championship in 2008 and on the personal side, he worked with our engineer Johannes Gruber in the past."

After stints in GP2 and as Renault F1 test driver, Lopez signed a deal to race with USF1 before the still-born project collapsed at the start of 2010.


Tom Hornsby