Young Driver AMR: José María López joins the team in Argentina

Young Driver AMR will start the final race of the inaugural season of the GT1-World Championship this weekend in Argentina with a chance to win the drivers world championship title. For the last race at the stunning track of Portrero de los Funes in the Argentinean province of San Luis, the team has secured the services of local driver José María “Pechito” López (27). He is set to reinforce the Young Driver AMR team and will share the #8 Aston Martin DBR9 with Stefan Mücke (GER).

“We fight for the World Championship in Argentina. 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“, Young Driver AMR principal Hardy Fischer explains. “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. José María will replace Christoffer Nygaard in the number eight car in Argentina. It was a tough decision to change the drivers for the last round, but with this championship being so tight and having so limited practise time, we think it will be an advantage for our entire team to have someone with a good track knowledge on board. José María 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.”

José María López (born 26. April 1983 in Rio Percero/Argentina) raced in the Formula 3000 and GP2 series from 2004 to 2006. In 2007, he went back to his native country to race in the highly popular national TC2000 touring car championship. López won the championship two times, in 2008 und 2009. In 2008 he also competed in the FIA GT Championship and in the American Le Mans Series with Ferrari.

Before the last races held this Sunday, the two “Young Drivers“ Darren Turner (GBR) and Tomas Enge (CZE), are second in driver points standings, 28 points behind the championship leader. Turner/Enge are the only two drivers, who can still challenge the championship leaders for the world championship honours.

“The two races in Argentina will not be very easy, as we expect it to be very hot there“, Hardy Fischer says. „But we remain optimistic and will give out best. Darren and Tomas have a tough job to do, but you never know what will happen. In the team championship, our goal now is to finish our first season in GT1-racing in the runner up spot.“

At the final round of the GT1 World Championship in Argentina,
Young Driver AMR will be supported by both Union Engineering (www.union.dk) and Zegg Watches & Jewellery (www.zegg.ch).