WEC: Lopez to join Toyota’s 2017 line-up

Three-time World Touring Car champion and DS Virgin Formula E driver Jose Maria Lopez will join Toyota’s World Endurance Championship line-up for next season. The move follows a series of tests for the 33-year-old with Toyota since last winter, when he was expressing interest in a move to sportscars ahead of Citroen’s end-of-2016 WTCC exit.

Lopez made his Formula E debut in Hong Kong in October, and has one WTCC outing left with Citroen, at Qatar later this month.

The signing of the Argentinian is not expected to be confirmed until January, but Toyota Motorsport GmbH technical director Pascal Vasselon revealed that the team has already completed its 2017 line-up.

It remains unclear whose seat Lopez will take in the existing two-car line-up, but speculation suggests that 41-year-old Stephane Sarrazin is the most likely to be replaced.Lopez, a former Renault Formula 1 test driver and GP2 race winner, already has sportscar experience in the GT ranks. He sporadically raced Ferraris in the American Le Mans Series and the FIA GT Championship in 2007-’08, and made a one-off aboard an Aston Martin in the FIA GT1 World Championship on home ground in San Luis in 2010.

Original story: Autosport.com