Antonio Felix da Costa feels he’s “having a run of a championship-contending driver” after winning for the second time in three races.
The Portuguese driver began the season with three non-scores and was the subject of speculation that he would be replaced at TAG Heuer Porsche by Abt Cupra driver Nico Mueller. The change never happened, however, and after back-to-back to-six finishes in Sao Paulo and Tokyo, da Costa won the first race of the Misano doubleheader. The win was subsequently stripped due to his car’s throttle damper spring not conforming to regulations, although that ruling remains subject to an ongoing appeal. Should it be reinstated, it would be three wins from the last seven races, and make da Costa the only three-time winner this season.
“I’m not doing many things different, to be honest — I think we just understood what works for me, as a team and we diverged a little bit from what works for Pascal and that’s fine,” da Costa said of his turnaround in form. “We just took a little bit of time to understand, mainly for the one-lap performance, and in the races we’ve usually been strong. I’m still super sad that me and Pascal haven’t been able to get on the podium together — we’ve been telling each other that we need to make that happen and it’s either him or me.
“But I’m super happy with the momentum that we’ve been able to build. It’s been a big run of races since Sao Paulo — almost every two weeks we’ve been racing and we’ve been able to crack on and keep building a little bit more every weekend with some sixth places, fifth places, and then eventually we got three wins on the track in the last six or seven races.