Albert Costa (racing driver)

Albert Costa Balboa[1] (born 2 May 1990 in Barcelona) is a Spanish racing driver who currently competes in the Blancpain GT Series.

Albert Costa
Albert Costa, 2016
Nationality	Spanish
Born	2 May 1990 Barcelona (Spain)
Blancpain GT Series International GT Open career
Current team	Emil Frey Racing
Car number	14
Previous series
2008–09 2008–09 2007	Formula Renault 3.5 Formula Renault 2.0 WEC Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 British F3 National Class
Championship titles
2009 2009 2012	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula Renault 2.0 WEC Eurocup Mégane Trophy

Career

Karting

Costa started his international karting career in 2004, in the Copa Campeones Trophy for ICA Junior class karts, finishing in seventh position. He continued in the same class in 2005, with the exception of the Copa Campeones Trophy, where he competed in the ICA class. He finished seventh again in that race, adding a seventh in the Spanish ICA Junior Championship, a 27th in the Andrea Margutti Trophy, and 29th in the European Championship. However, Costa excelled himself later in the season, winning the Italian Open Masters. He held off the challenges of Charles Pic and Marcus Ericsson to win the title by nine points. He continued in karting in 2006, but moved into the ICA class full-time. He competed in five different championships over the course of the season, but only finished in the top fifteen in the Asian-Pacific Championship.

Formula Three

Costa made the substantial leap from karting to Formula Three, missing out many conventional lower single-seater formulae.[2] He drove for Räikkönen Robertson Racing in the first five rounds of the series, before funds dried up. His best result came during the series' first visit to the Bucharest Ring in Romania, when he finished fourth in class, just over a second behind Hamad Al Fardan who finished third.[3]

Formula Renault

After his Formula Three career was cut short by lack of funds, Costa dropped down to Formula Renault to compete in the Eurocup and West European Cup for Epsilon Euskadi. Costa finished eighth in the pan-European series, despite failing to finish on the podium in any of the fourteen races. His best finish was fourth at the Nürburgring and Le Mans. He also recorded the fastest lap during the first race at Estoril. He placed three spots higher in the WEC, finishing fifth overall and runner-up in the rookie standings behind Jean-Éric Vergne.

Costa continued with Epsilon into 2009, again competing in the Eurocup and West European Cup. He won the Eurocup, holding off the challenges of both Vergne and António Félix da Costa, and two weeks later, sealed the WEC title thanks to a double win at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. Costa won thirteen of the 28 races he competed in, winning five in the Eurocup and eight in the WEC.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

Albert Costa at the 2011 Nürburgring World series by Renault round

After being awarded €500,000 prize money for winning the Eurocup title, Costa graduated to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2010 with Epsilon Euskadi.[4]

Eurocup Megane Trophy

Costa will remain part of the World Series by Renault in 2012 as he switches to Eurocup Megane Trophy with defending champions Oregon. The Spaniard had hoped to remain on the single-seater ladder but a budget shortfall necessitated his switch to tin-tops.[5] Costa won the title at his first attempt, scoring seven race victories along the way.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2007	British F3 National Class	Räikkönen Robertson Racing	9	0	0	0	0	33	11th
2008	Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup	Epsilon Euskadi	14	0	0	1	0	35	8th
	Formula Renault 2.0 WEC		15	0	1	0	4	85	5th
2009	Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup	Epsilon Euskadi	14	5	6	6	10	138	1st
	Formula Renault 2.0 WEC		14	8	8	10	9	172	1st
2010	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Epsilon Euskadi	17	0	0	0	3	78	5th
2011	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	EPIC Racing	17	1	1	1	4	151	4th
2012	Eurocup Mégane Trophy	Oregon Team	14	7	8	6	10	251	1st
2016	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup	Emil Frey Racing	4	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2017	Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup	Emil Frey Racing	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	ADAC GT Masters	Callaway Competition	2	0	0	0	0	14	32nd
	International GT Open	Emil Frey Racing	14	4	4	5	7	98	3rd
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup		4	0	0	0	0	1	28th
2018	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup	Emil Frey Racing	5	1	0	0	1	35	9th
	Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup		10	0	0	2	0	15.5	13th
2019	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup	Orange 1 FFF Racing Team	1	1	0	0	1	25	10th
	International GT Open	Emil Frey Racing	14	4	5	1	7	128	1st

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Pos.	Pts
2010	Epsilon Euskadi	ALC 1 Ret	ALC 2 4	SPA 1 4	SPA 2 19	MON 1 3	BRN 1 18	BRN 2 10	MAG 1 8	MAG 2 5	HUN 1 6	HUN 2 2	HOC 1 8	HOC 2 17	SIL 1 2	SIL 2 8	CAT 1 5	CAT 2 10	5th	78
2011	EPIC Racing	ALC 1 4	ALC 2 3	SPA 1 3	SPA 2 5	MNZ 1 18	MNZ 2 5	MON 1 9	NÜR 1 5	NÜR 2 6	HUN 1 Ret	HUN 2 2	SIL 1 5	SIL 2 5	LEC 1 DSQ	LEC 2 7	CAT 1 Ret	CAT 2 1	4th	151

References

1. "Albert Costa - Driver". www.instagram.com/acostabalboa. Albert Costa. Archived from the original on 21 November 2009. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
2. "Thirty Three Cars for 2007 Series". fota.co.uk. British Formula 3 Championship. 20 March 2007. Archived from the original on 18 April 2009. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
3. "Vodafone Bucharest Challenge 07: 2007 Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series". mstworld.com. MST Systems. 19 May 2007. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
4. "Costa champion!". renault-sport.com. Renault Sport. 25 October 2009. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
5. Weeks, James (22 February 2012). "Costa makes Eurocup Megane Trophy switch for 2012". motorstv.com. Motors TV. Archived from the original on 19 June 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2012.

External links

• Career statistics from Driver Database