Arturo Costa

47 year old Brazilian Born Portuguese driver, Twin Brother with Pedro. Pay Driver, used to be GT Driver

Born to Both Portuguese Parents, lived in Brazil for 2 Years then moved to Barcelona then to Porto at age 5. Both he and his brother got involved with racing very early on, they started Karting at 4 years old in the Catalonian Karting Series. For 5 years, both did not race, then he won the Portuguese Karting Championship in 1997, moving to the Porto Formula 4 Championship in 1998 finishing P12 out of 15 competitors, He raced a one off in F3000 at age 16 for Redman & Bright At Pergusa, DNQ in the process, He raced once again in the 1999 Porto Formula 4 Championship in 1999, getting P5, winning 2 races. He also completed a one off at the 24 Hours Of Le Mans for Autonative Sport, retiring from the Race. He also completed at the Coppa Cittá di Enna for Autonative in a Osella Pa20, Retiring from the race. In 2000 he raced in the British Formula Ford championship, getting P10 again for Autonative Sport with a surprise Podium at Brands Hatch. At the 2000 Formula Ford Festival, once again at Brands Hatch, he did very well qualifying in P6 and leading during changing conditions and finishing in a Promising P9. He once again Completed at the 24 hours of Le Mans, finishing last of the runners. In 2001, he surprisingly made a move to F3000 for Autonative. Also in 2001, started to race in the Euro Formula 3000, once again for Autonative.

Disaster

At the round in Pergusa. For the Euro Formula 3000, Costa was racing for P12 with German driver, Hans Höfmann. He was running a decent race, moving through the field. While attempting to overtake Hans on the 27th lap, Costa lost control of his Lola T96/50 and spun and flipped numerus times with his car splitting in half. The car catched fire, the race was red flagged immediately with Costa being rescued and surprisingly surviving but knocked out. His brother, Pedro raced the next race in his honor, finishing P15. He suffered head injuries but survived. He began his road to recovery, also earning sponsorship from Galp Energia.

A New Chapter

From this sponsorship, he raced in the 2001 Formula Ford Festival, retiring but doing Decent. In 2002, Costa decided to end his Open Weel besides racing in the French Formula 3 for racing for the meantime, racing in the Portuguese GT Series. Sadly in August of 2002, his employers, Autonative closed up shop. He raced 2 races for JH Racing, getting 2 15th places, because of this he got a one race deal with Prema, getting a shocking P3. Due to a strong season in French Formula 3, he raced in Euro Formula 3 for 2 races before leaving. In 2003 and 2004 he couldn’t secure a ride at any team. Realizing most likely his F1 dream was done, he rejoined the Portuguese GT Series in 2005. He raced the whole season with his brother, creating the Team, Costa Racing. Both of them struggled in the first 2 seasons. In 2007 they made vast improvements, winning 1 race and finishing 7th in the standings. Once again difficulties arose as they had to close Costa Racing due to the financial crisis with Galp ending sponsorship. In 2008, Arturo only raced once, at the 2 hours of Porto. In 2009, he signed a deal with Euro Formula 3 team for Kolles, sharing a car with French Driver, Christopher Panis. He used his experience well getting 17 points in 10 races. Also with the deal, He raced in the GP2 Asia Series, surprisingly winning a round and showing the media he was a good driver. In 2010, he became a bykolles test driver made his open wheel return In 2011, he moved to America to race in Indy Lights, getting P7 in the championship, winning a round and getting a further 2 podiums. In 2012, he raced once again in Indy Lights, getting P3 in the championship with 2 wins and 5 podiums and 3 poles. Due to this super strong season, he joined Lotus/Chevrolet in Indycar with Dragon Racing, having an ok season finishing 20th in the championship in a poor car. In 2013, he returned to Europe and Galp Returned to him. He raced in the Portuguese GT Championship, getting 1 win and 2 podiums to finish 7th in the championship. In 2014, he once again returned to the Portuguese GT Championship, now with Austrian Outfit, Lechner Racing. During the season, Costa won the Championship and his first Championship since the 1997 Portuguese Karting Championship. He went into WEC with Privateer, Turn01 Racing, finishing 8th in GT. He also made a surprise return to both GP3 and GP2, one race each getting P3 in GP3 and P9 in GP2. He returned to Turn01 Racing in 2016, getting P8 in the standings, but getting 50 points compared to 62 the previous season. In 2017, he left Turn01 to race for Höfmann Motorsport(Yes It’s Hans Höfmann’s team). They did ok, only getting 56 points and 9th in the championship. In 2018, once again with Höfmann Motorsport, he was able to get P1 at LeMans with his brother and Hans Höfmann as Co Drivers. In 2019, he took a sabbatical of racing. 2020 proved to be a poor year due to covid, he was limited. But was able to race 5 races in the Italian F2000 trophy, winning twice. In 2021, he returned to WEC, now with a 2 Race deal with AF Corse. He did well, getting two P4’s. In 2022 he returned to the Italian F2000 Trophy, winning it comfortably with racing in Le Mans for Prema Racing. In 2023, Arturo signed up to race in DTM, he struggled with bad luck, getting 1 points and left after mid season, the races he retired he was running in top 10, he also raced in WEC with Prema at LeMans. In 2024, he left DTM to fully concentrate on racing with Vector Sport in LMP2, doing decent getting a Win in Qatar. In 2025, he raced in the Hypercar category with his Brother in a second Galp Isotta Fraschini Car, struggling with 0 points. But in 2026, Formula One announced that 6-7 new teams, with that, Minardi reached out to one of the Costa brothers, Arturo signed a deal with Minardi, because of this he raced 6 races in F2, 2 in F3 and a full season of Central European and European Regional Championships. He surprisingly won the Austrian Feature race, in which 10 cars retired and got 1 more points finish, but he retired from both F3 races, in the Central European Series for Prema, he won the championship but struggled in the European Regional Championship only getting 21 points.

Dream is Achieved

In Formula One for Minardi, of course the team wasn’t very good, he struggled quite a lot but got a best finish of 15th. He did get a couple P17’s but really struggled with a poor car

He later Lost seat at Minardi, and promptly retired from racing after one final race at the 112th Indianapolis 500

Racing Record

Porto Formula 4

10,8,6,4,2,1

24 Hours Of Le Mans

SportsRacing World Cup

SportsRacing World Cup

Formula Ford Festival
 2001

GP2 Asia

Central European Zone F3 Championship