The Formula E grid could welcome another world champ earlier than it thought. Two-times World Touring Cars victor Jose Maria Lopez expressed his interest in joining the series in 2017 at a press conference at the Buenos Aires circuit yesterday. There’s a chance that he might be called in today to replace Jean-Eric Vergne, who has called in sick.

“It would be fantastic for me to be part of this fantastic series, with this fantastic bunch of drivers,” Lopez said. “It’s a series which (I’ve said before) is growing up really quick and it’s very interesting for the drivers. The fact that we have a race in Argentina, it would be fantastic to have as well an Argentinian driver.”

In 2014, Lopez became Argentina’s first world champion in an FIA series since Juan Manuel Fangio won his final Formula 1 title back in 1957. Lopez followed this up with another championship triumph in 2015, but has one eye on the future after his team, Citroen, announced that it would be quitting the WTCC at the end of 2016.

“Today I have compromises with the brand with Citroen and also with the series I’m involved in, WTCC,” Lopez acknowledged. “We are developing the car so the timing is not possible, but it would be fantastic. We will see. Today, everything is guessing because nothing is concrete. Why not in 2017? It could be a good option.”

Lopez has previously tested for DS Virgin Racing thanks to its ties with Citroen, and spoke about how much he enjoyed trying out a Formula E car. “I did a small test with a team because there was no driver available and I was lucky enough to be there that day so I jumped in the car for a few laps,” he said.

“The first thing is, you don’t have the noise of an engine,” Lopez went on. “You hear everything that’s going on in the car. When the car is touching the ground, for example, you can hear the noise of the gearbox all the time. When you hit a kerb, you can hear the suspension suffering. It’s quite a strange feeling but it’s still racing. The level of the series is fantastic, the driving is fantastic. And that is also very important. I know the drivers. I’ve been racing in the past with them. I’ve shared teams with Loic Duval, Jerome D’Ambrosio, Lucas di Grassi. They tell me the races are really, really, really fun, the car is fun to drive and the competition of is very very high.”

Watch this space.

Luke Smith