Albert Costa already has great suitors to step up to the Hypercar

Albert Costa made a difficult decision for this year. Head or tail. He is a factory GT driver at Lamborghini, a factory driver, that many other drivers want. But something was missing: he didn’t feel loved. I was not happy. He asked the team if they were considering him for their plans for the program the company has in hand to enter the premier class of the World Endurance Championship starting next year. But the response of one of his bosses was clear: “No”. They gave no other reason. No explanation. Albert then decided to leave. His father Luis Costa told him to think about it. He believed that he was wrong in that decision, a priori haste. But there is no going back. Albert wanted to develop as a driver and for this he had to leave the brand and find a life elsewhere where they trusted more in his immense talent. He came to one of the lowest teams in the silver category of World Resistance, Inter Europol. The rest is history.

THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW WITH ALBERT COSTA, ON TWITCH

Before all chance, Albert Costa and his teammates overcame the superpowers in their category and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMP2. Albert came to the World Resistance Championship as a ‘rookie’ with aim to shine and attract the attention of a Hypercar team for the next course. Now, after conquering Le Mans, his goal is to win the LMP2 title in the WEC, and in turn, Close signing for a Hypercar team next year to be a driver in the top category of the World Endurance Championship. After his victory at Le Mans, Albert Costa’s ‘girlfriends’ have piled up. This was assured to MD by the pilot of Les Corts.

“I risked everything by going to the WEC in LMP2 with this team because my goal was to get to Hypercar. This is the truth and we will not hide it. Before the Le Mans race, several teams told me: ‘we’ll keep an eye on you’. I was under pressure, but it went well. I’ll be meeting one of these teams at the next race and have three other ‘girlfriends’ that haven’t happened yet, but I know they’re behind me. and I know at any moment they can tell me to make coffee. I’m ready, waiting for the message notification on my mobile,” Costa told MD in a live interview on Mundo Deportivo’s Twitch channel.

“We are talking about teams already present in the WEC… and I know one is behind me because one of its drivers spoke to me”he said, not wanting to reveal any details yet.

“We are working to do it for next year. But first let’s focus on this year. If they call me to meet we will go. This motivates me, that things are cooked in different places. Let’s see what happens, but first you have to listen to see what they have to offer me. What matters is that there is interest. In one of the teams there is a lot of interest, it is a good team, with top teammates and a human group that is one of the best in the paddock. Let’s see if luck is on my side and I end up where I want to be”done about it.

COSTA REMOVES A ‘THORN’ WITH LAMBORHINI

Albert Costa decided to leave Lamborghini when he was the brand’s official driver. He himself explained to MD a conversation in which Giorgio Sanna, head of the Lamborghini Squadra Corse, closed the doors to the Hypercar program. They didn’t even count on him to do a test to assess his possible candidacy despite the reasons Albert put on the table.

“When I met Giorgio, who was the head of Squadra Corse in June or July last year, I told him: ‘For next year, what?’ He told me GT, that the car would be very good, etc. ‘What chance do I have to enter LMDH, in Hypercar?’ I asked him. ‘Nothing,’ he replied. ‘Why,’ I asked. I have no answer”declared the pilot of Barcelona in MD.

“And I said to him: ‘Look Giorgio, of the 7 riders I have the lowest, 10 kilos less than the next one heavier than me. 10 kilos at Le Mans is 3 or 4 tenths per lap at Le Mans. And 4 tenths is a lot of seconds at the end of a 24 hour race”Albert continued.

“I’m one of the ones with the most or the most experience in fat formulas, like the World Series, GP2 and I’ve been the development driver for the World Series and I’ve won races. I won’t tell you to take me for a run. But as you test your pilots, test me. If I do well, keep me the salary I have nowwithout adding to it, and it will be a ‘win, win’, because I will go there and it will be cheap for you'”, added Costa in that conversation with Sanna. But the answer is the same again: “Albert… no.”

“’Tell me why?’ I will ask. ‘And not an answer.’ And I was very angry,” Albert recalled about the conversation he had with Sanna, one of the triggers for his decision to leave Lamborghini and start a new path for this course.

Exactly, days after the Le Mans victory, Costa received a congratulatory message from Lamborghini. In this case, the second on the brand board. After a few moments of contemplation in the gym, Albert decided to answer.

“In the message he said: ‘I see you have a lot of experience with these vehicles.’ Well, what he told me was very nice. I thought he was going to tell me that he needed to talk to me about Hypercar (for next year’s program in the top category of the World Endurance Championship), but no. And I thought to answer. I took the motorcycle, I went to the gym, and I said: ‘that’s it’. I will answer him, because I have pride and I want them to realize that they “screwed up”, he explained to MD before revealing his answer: “When he sent me a message and told me he had experience, I told him: ‘Mauro, I appreciate your message. I am very happy, thank you very much. And yes, the experience is remarkable. I told Giorgio last year, but it was too late”.

Albert Costa removed a big ‘thorn’ in a team that didn’t know how to appreciate him. It seemed like a step back in their career, but they turned 10 forward. Now, look to the future with great illusion. In the Hypercar category, they win.

“NOW I’M HAPPY”

What Costa didn’t know before signing for Inter Europol and leaving Lamborghini was that it would change his life. He was moved to tears when he finally saw that an option in his hand was not being fulfilled. I don’t know what will happen to him for this course. And there appeared the door of the World Resistance. He took a lot of risks. He decided to quit being an official Lamborghini driver in pursuit of bigger dreams. And that courage was certainly highlighted by other teammates after their victory at Le Mans.

“There are two key things for this year in the WEC. Many drivers, both Hypercar and LMP2 wrote to me and told me: ‘uncle, congratulations on your career, but most of all congratulations to you and your…. for going away from Lamborghini, leaving and betting in a category where you have never tried and with a team that last year was the worst, and doing what you did’. And those are the cool things”, Albert raised.

“And in an interview after winning the race, I realized that I was driving better than before because I was again, because with Lamborghini I was not happy, because I couldn’t handle myself. I was with a mental ‘coach’ who helped me saying: ‘look what the boss told me, that I won the race and he didn’t even congratulate me. Because? No pat on the back. Nothing’. That’s where he made you feel the last”Costa revealed before detailing what he said to one of those responsible before leaving.

“At Lamborghini, in one of our conversations, I told him: ‘The way you treated me was like you were bullying me. I didn’t feel loved, I didn’t feel supported, you didn’t treat me well in many chance, you haven’t answered my messages and you haven’t answered my calls for months. If you value me so much and I also speak Italian and we understand each other perfectly… you should be there and tell me things. And if you don’t like something, tell me and I will improve it, because I am like that and you know it’”, he explained to this newspaper.

“Now I’m back to being me again, a normal person who drives and enjoys what he does. With my two bosses, both in WEC and in GT (in GT he drives for the Emil Frey Racing team, his second family), I ask them in every race if there is anything I can improve or change, because that’s how I am. and I want to improve and be better. But in the other house… it didn’t happen”, he concluded. Albert is happy again. Enjoy driving again. And above all: look to the future with a big smile. Great opportunities will come to keep shining.