Albert Costa (Inter Europol Competition): "A lot of sacrifices to be here

When discussing drivers for an LMP2 programme, Albert Costa's name has been mentioned from us for several years now. In our opinion, the former single-seater driver, who has been racing in GT since 2016 after a four-year hiatus, had all the cards to shine in the prototype. 2023 marks his LMP2 debut in the Oreca 07/Inter Europol Competition entered in the WEC with Fabio Scherer and Jakub Smiechowski. The Spaniard made his debut on the very bumpy Sebring track with a very good 4th place in the 1000 Miles of Sebring.

A few minutes after the finish, a smiling Albert Costa spoke to Endurance-Info about his discovery of the WEC, the sacrifices he had to make to get there and his ambitions.

We can feel you as moved as if you had won the race...

It's completely crazy, I'm living a dream! Ok, we missed the podium but this 4th place is incredible. I am very happy with the result but above all with the work of the team. We progressed every day to get to this place at the foot of the podium. I'm just starting out in the championship where I'm discovering everything: the car, the team, my teammates and the track. The Prologue started badly with our engineer who was ill and wasn't there. We had to change a lot of things, already on my part because I need to change my driving style because an LMP2 is not a GT3.

The team believed in you for the qualifying session. Was this planned?

I'll be honest, I wasn't really ready for it. They trusted me and I can only thank them for that. I think I lost 0.3s but even without that, my first qualifying was positive.

 You have the 5th fastest time in the race...

The car was really good in the race. I'm quite surprised myself with my pace. I would like to thank the whole team once again. I have made a lot of sacrifices to get to this point, I have lost 6 kg, I work daily on my physical preparation and I asked a lot of questions to my driver friends about what I had to do to be at the top.

The start of a new adventure?

Driving in LMP2 is a dream for me. I have waited so long to get here. Nobody thought of me for such a programme and I myself didn't know what to expect. Everyone gave me the right tools to get here.

Everything is gradually coming together in the team?

We are a team but we used to work separately. Little by little, everyone has come together. We have to move in the same direction. As the days went by, all the little problems were solved. We have the potential to do things right. Le Mans has always been a dream that I will finally fulfil this year.