Jose Maria Lopez stunned by 2014 World Touring Car success
World Touring Car champion Jose Maria Lopez says he was taken aback by his dominance of the 2014 season
Sometime Formula 3000/GP2 frontrunner and Renault Formula 1 test driver Lopez came to the WTCC having won three TC2000 titles in his native Argentina.
He took a reversed-grid race win on his WTCC debut with the Wiechers BMW team at Termas de Rio Hondo in 2013 before Citroen signed him for its maiden campaign.
The 31-year-old won 10 races and claimed the 2014 title by 126 points over four-time WTCC champion team-mate Yvan Muller.
"At the beginning it was difficult for me and the team to set out a main objective as we didn't know the championship and Citroen was coming from rallying," Lopez told AUTOSPORT.
"It has been much better than I expected. I ended having broken the record for wins and points in a season, against very experienced guys, including Yvan who has been the reference driver in the series for many years.
"It will be difficult for me to equal this [in 2015]; it has been my best [performance in a] championship in my career.
"Of course I had the best car on the grid, but I also had three team-mates and this makes the value of what I have done better."
Muller suggested that Lopez's greater affinity with Citroen's simulator played a part in the Argentinean's quick adaptation to the WTCC.
Lopez agreed using the technology had assisted him and Citroen's third full-time driver Sebastien Loeb.
"There were eight tracks this year that I didn't know. I am sure the work I have been doing with Seb in the simulator has helped," he said.
"To have never been to Macau before and won in my first year... but things have been like that all year - just amazing."
Simulator discomfort hurt Yvan Muller during 2014 WTCC season
Dusan Borkovic switches to Proteam Honda for 2015 WTCC
Honda responds to Volvo WTCC organisation claims
JAS Motorsport's Alessandro Mariani says he was "amazed" by Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin's suggestion that Volvo's structure compared to Honda was key to its 2017 World Touring Car Championship success
Volvo reckons team structure defeated Honda in 2017 WTCC
Polestar head of motorsport Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin says Volvo's organisation compared to World Touring Car Championship rival Honda was vital to its 2017 title success
WTCR's 26-car limit is protect 'quality' says series chief Ribeiro
The World Touring Car Cup's limit on full-season entries will ensure a level of "quality" and avoid "difficulties" arising from local drivers competing, says Eurosport Events chief Francois Ribeiro
Merger of WTCC and TCR should have happened two years earlier
The World Touring Car Championship's move to adopt TCR regulations should have happened "at least two years earlier", says veteran WTCC racer Tom Coronel
Why joker laps are entering the mainstream
This season the World Touring Car Championship looks certain to bring joker laps to a circuit-racing world championship for the first time. And it need not be the daft gimmick people may think
The making of the world's best tin-top driver
He has been overshadowed at Citroen for the last three seasons, but the retirement of Yvan Muller means the world says farewell to one of touring-car racing's finest talents
Volvo's plan to conquer the WTCC
Volvo gave the World Touring Car Championship a major boost when it announced it would enter the series, but its ambitions don't stop there. JACK COZENS examines its programme, the S60 and what its arrival means for the WTCC
The WTCC's Nordschleife gamble paid off
A 17-car field on a 13-mile track - the WTCC's Nurburgring Nordschleife gamble wasn't going to be easy to pull off. STUART CODLING explains how the series made it work
Insight from a Nordschleife master
World championship racing returns to the Nordschleife this weekend. STUART CODLING got a lesson from one of the legendary track's few masters
Becoming world champion for £100k
The 2012 World Touring Car champion says he never had the money to race cars. Yet 2015 is his 11th season in the WTCC. He talks STUART CODLING through his journey from motorsport fan to paid professional - for little more than £100,000
Can the vanquished champion bounce back?
The World Touring Car Championship kicks off in Argentina this weekend, and Yvan Muller bids to reclaim his throne from Citroen team-mate Jose Maria Lopez. He talks to STUART CODLING
The top 10 WTCC drivers of 2014
Citroen had no rivals during the 2014 World Touring Car Championship, and 'rookie' Jose Maria Lopez hit the ground running to emerge as a worthy champion. PETER MILLS rates the field