Jose Maria Lopez will replace an injured Ben Barnicoat this weekend for the 12 Hours of Sebring, with Lopez joining Aaron Telitz and Kyle Kirkwood in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.
Barnicoat has been injured in a mountain biking crash sometime this week. He appeared on an IMSA-hosted pre-event Zoom call, which Motorsport Week was present for, last Wednesday.
Lopez will make his GTD Pro debut in the IMSA Sportscar Championship at Sebring, but he’s no stranger to the Lexus, having raced it in 2024 and this year in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He also won the WEC title overall, in 2019-2020 and 2021 for Toyota, plus a win at Le Mans in 2021.
He previously raced in the premier IMSA series in 2022, for Cadillac, finishing fifth at Daytona and sixth at Sebring alongside Jimmie Johnson, Mike Rockenfeller, and his Toyota teammate Kamui Kobayashi.
Lopez and Barnicoat teammates at Qatar
In the WEC season opener at Qatar last month, the Argentinian unfortunately didn’t get to drive in the race. His teammate Petra Umbrarescu made contact with another GT3 car in the opening laps, with the car having to be retired as a result of the damage.
Barnicoat, meanwhile, finished fourth in the sister Lexus, both run by the ASP team. He was scheduled to undertake a dual IMSA-WEC programme this year prior to his injury.
A statement from Lexus on Instagram read as follows:
Lexus factory driver Ben Barnicoat sustained injuries in a mountain biking accident and will be unable to compete in Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Replacing Ben at Sebring will be WEC Lexus teammate and two-time WEC champion José María López.
Wishing you a very speedy recovery and can’t wait to see you back at the track Ben!
It is unclear when Barnicoat will be back in action.
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