López began in karting before moving to the Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup in 2001, finishing 17th with one pole position and one fastest lap. In 2002, driving for Cram Competition, he finished fourth with one victory. That same year he drove for Cram in Italian Formula Renault, becoming champion with four wins, beating Robert Kubica to the crown.
In 2003, López moved to the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup with DAMS, winning the title with five race wins. He then moved to International Formula 3000 with the CMS team in 2004, finishing sixth overall, while also making four starts in the V6 Eurocup.
López raced in the inaugural GP2 Series season in 2005 for DAMS, finishing ninth. For 2006, he moved to the Super Nova Racing team, finishing tenth. He had been a member of the Renault Driver Development programme between 2004 and 2006 and was test driver for Renault F1 during the 2006 season.
In early 2007, López raced in the American Le Mans Series, driving a Ferrari 430 GT for Corsa Motorsports/White Lightning at the 12 Hours of Sebring and for Risi Competizione at St. Petersburg.
López returned to Argentina in 2007 to race in TC 2000, the country's major production-based touring car championship. He finished fifth in 2007, won the drivers' title in 2008, and defended it in 2009. He joined the Turismo Carretera in 2008 and the Top Race V6 in 2009, becoming TRV6 champion in 2009. He narrowly missed winning the 2009 Turismo Carretera title after crashing out on an oil spill on the 18th lap of the final race, losing the unique opportunity to win three different championships in the same season.
López also competed in selected races of the FIA GT Championship in 2008 for the ACA Argentina team.
In November 2009, López confirmed a deal with the new US F1 Team to race in the 2010 Formula One season, contingent on securing an eight-million-dollar sponsorship package. He was announced as a US F1 driver on 25 January 2010. Former F1 driver Carlos Reutemann, a close friend of US F1 principal Peter Windsor and a leading politician in Argentina, helped assemble the funding package. Rumours emerged that López was in talks with rival team Campos; this was confirmed by his manager in late February. On 2 March 2010, he was freed from his contract after US F1 was unable to attempt to race. On 4 March, Karun Chandhok completed the 2010 grid by signing for Campos — leaving López without a race drive.
In 2010, López remained driving for Honda in the Argentine TC 2000 championship, finishing sixth. That year he was granted the Platinum Konex Award as the best racing driver of the last decade in Argentina. For 2011 he switched to Fiat. In 2012, he won the Super TC2000 championship for a third time with privateer team PSG16.
López made his World Touring Car Championship debut with Wiechers-Sport at the 2013 FIA WTCC Race of Argentina, substituting for their regular driver Fredy Barth. He took both Yokohama Independents' Trophy victories and scored an overall victory in race two.
In 2014, López moved to Citroën and became the 2014 World Touring Car Champion, clinching the title at Suzuka. The Citroën C-Elysée WTCC secured seventeen victories out of 23 races, and López finished the season with ten victories. His teammates were Yvan Muller and circuit-races rookie Sébastien Loeb.
In 2015, López again dominated the early part of the season and won ten races to retain the championship, despite anticipating stronger competition from Honda, Chevrolet, and within his own Citroën team. In 2016, he retained the title with eight wins.
In July 2016, López was confirmed as DS Virgin Racing's second driver for the third season of the FIA Formula E Championship, finishing ninth in the Drivers' championship. He returned to Formula E for the 2017–18 campaign at the Marrakesh round for Dragon Racing, replacing the outgoing Neel Jani.
On 4 February 2017, Toyota Gazoo Racing announced that López would join the team for the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship, driving the No. 7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid alongside Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway. He had expressed interest in driving for the team after several rounds of testing in 2015.
López made his WEC debut at Silverstone, where he crashed shortly after the halfway mark, was evaluated for back pain, and was taken to a local hospital as a precaution. He missed the Spa-Francorchamps round as a result. Toyota moved López to the No. 9 car for Le Mans, swapping seats with Stéphane Sarrazin and linking up with Yuji Kunimoto and Nicolas Lapierre. The trio qualified fifth but retired after the No. 9 car was hit in the rear by an LMP2 car, resulting in a broken wheel that damaged the hydraulic and oil lines.
López returned to the No. 7 car for the Nürburgring round, taking his first WEC podium with a third-place finish, one minute behind the race-winning No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid. The trio finished fourth in back-to-back races at Mexico and Austin. The No. 7 car finished second behind the sister No. 8 car at Fuji, earning López's second WEC podium. He finished his debut season sixth in the World Endurance Drivers' Championship with 84.5 points.
On 30 January 2018, Toyota confirmed that López would contest the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship in an unchanged No. 7 lineup. The season brought his first WEC victories and a runner-up finish in the championship.
López won the FIA World Endurance Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing in both 2020 and 2021. His 2021 title was accompanied by victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, making him the second Argentine to win that race since José Froilán González in 1954.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
Gallery · 4 related images
