Svetoslav Kostov

Kostov's car for the 2023 Indycar season

> *Oh rip, I also get karma.*
>
> Svetoslav Kostov after his spin on lap 3 at turn 13 at the 2023 Indycar Alabama Grand Prix

Svetoslav Kostov is a 19-year old Bulgarian driver, who is currently racing for Clark Racing Enterprises in Indycar. It's his first ever season in the championship.

## History

### 2023 Indycar Season (Clark Racing Enterprises)

This is Kostov's first season in Indycar. He signed for Clark Racing Enterprises alongside Chris Mcosh and he is with the number 14 on his car. But before the first race of the season in Alabama, a rivalry already began between him and Prorata GP's Aaron Smith.

#### Alabama Grand Prix

His first qualifying session went well for the Bulgarian. He qualified in 8th place with a lap of 1:10.268, which is 1.053 slower than Dragontrial's Gustavo Frigotto's Pole time, but is 0.085 faster than teammate Chris Mcosh, who was having problems in Qualifying, and he only did 2 flying laps to qualify in 11th place.

When the lights dropped out for the first time this season, Kostov did a great start and he went from P8 to P4 in only 2 turns on lap 1, overtaking Benjamin Ciboci, Seth Nicholson, Aaron Smith and Tyler Garren and the Bulgarian was in a battle for 4th place with Smith until the start of lap 2, when Kostov was overtaking him at the main straight, Aaron Smith spun at turn 1 and made contact with the Bulgarian. Kostov then was in a fight for second place with Artemis O'Silver and Arkadiusz Ciolak and he was close to the leader Gustavo Frigotto. The damage wasn't obvious after the contact with Smith, but then on lap 3 at turn 13 Svetoslav Kostov spun and he dropped down to 13th place and from that moment the damage was obvious. On lap 13 James Fiorucci divebombed Kostov at the hairpin (turn 11 and turn 12), while they were in a battle for 14th place and Fiorucci hit the bulgarian and the damage of his Clark Racing Enterprises car was worse. On lap 19, Kostov did his only stop of the race and from 11th place he was down to 15th place. On lap 26 Kostov was lapped by the leader of the race Abdel Shadikshirram. 10 laps later Kostov made a mistake in Sector 1 and from 12th place, he was down to 13th place. In the end Svetoslav Kostov finished in 14th place and his teammate finished in 19th place, because of mistakes during the race and it was not a good start of the year for Kostov and for Clark Racing Enterprises.

#### Pacific Grand Prix

His second qualifying started ok, being between P6 and P11 and his lap times were good, but these laps times were good, because Kostov was using slipstream from North Point Racing GP's Oliver Bean. But his best lap was at the end of the session. Without any slipstream, the Bulgarian did a 1:50.680, which was 0.786 behind Mirage Motorsport's Arkadiusz Ciolak's Pole time of 1:49.894, but 0.368 faster than teammate Mcosh, who qualified in 13th place. For the second time in a row, Kostov qualified in 8th place.

When the lights dropped out for the second time this season, Kostov did a good start and jumped from P8 to P6 at the first corner but after the chaos, overtakes, mistakes, spinnings and switching positions, after lap 1 Kostov was down to 7th place. Then he started avoiding accidents with the lost tyre of the championship leader Abdel Shadikshirram on lap 3, which put him to P5. On lap 8 Kostov did his first stop of the race and from that pit Kostov only had a small damage, which was repaired quickly and he was in P10. In the next lap the Bulgarian overtook Tyson Garren, who was in the pits without a rear wing after his mistake at the final corner a lap earlier putting him to P9. On lap 12 Kostov overtook Gustavo Frigotto to the inside part at turn 2 to take P8. A lap later the Bulgarian had to avoid an accident between Oliver Bean and Aaron Smith and he was up to 6th place. After overtaking Marco Coletti, who was in the pits on lap 19, and after second place Alessandro Pelone lost his rear wing and pulled into the pits for a long stop, which dropped him down, Kostov was in the podium. On lap 25 the Bulgarian made his second and last pit stop of the race but the pit stop was slower, which meant that he had damage, while he was trying to overtake Gustavo Frigotto earlier in the race and he lost a place to James Fiorucci for that, but he undercut Gustavo Frigotto after the pits to come out in P5. In the end Svetoslav Kostov finished in 5th place getting his first points and his team got 7 points, because Kostov's teammate finished in P10 and it was a great result for the Bulgarian and for Clark Racing Enterprises, comparing this race and the race in Alabama.

## Other Quotes

* Oh what a great start, what the heck! - *Svetoslav Kostov saying in his team radio after a great start from him at the 2023 Indycar Alabama Grand Prix.*
* That's karma from yesterday. - *Svetoslav Kostov after seeing Aaron Smith spining on lap 2 at turn 1 when he was trying to overtake him at the main straight at the 2023 Indycar Alabama Grand Prix*.
* I have damage, so I am alright to get lapped. - *Svetoslav Kostov on lap 18 telling his engineer about the leader closer to lap him at the 2023 Indycar Alabama Grand Prix.*
* Oh well, here we go again. ​Now just watch Aaron divebomb me and get us both out of the race. It's gonna happen............... nope it won't happen. - *Svetoslav Kostov when he got ahead of Aaron Smith after Smith's pit stop on lap 19 and before Kostov's only pit stop at the 2023 Indycar Alabama Grand Prix.*
* Tactical takeout? Ban? - *Svetoslav Kostov on lap 24 after hearing that his teammate was taken out by Ferdinand Vykoukal at the 2023 Indycar Alabama Grand Prix.*
* Ok, 1:0. - *Svetoslav Kostov when he finished the 2023 Indycar Alabama Grand Prix.*
* Alright, there is a battle for P8. - *Svetoslav Kostov on lap 8 in P10 when he was about a second behind the group of Gustavo Frigotto and Aaron Smith, who were in P8 and P9 at the 2023 Indycar Pacific Grand Prix.*
* Man, Gustavo isn't faster than me, he is just using my slipstream to stay with me. I overtook him laps ago. - *Svetoslav Kostov on lap 17 saying to his engineer about Gustavo Frigotto being faster than him at the straights at the 2023 Indycar Pacific Grand Prix.*
* Oh, James Fiorruci is joining the battle for the podium? Now look how James will take all three of us out of the race. - *Svetoslav Kostov on lap 23 at the 2023 Indycar Pacific Grand Prix hearing that James Fiorucci has joined the battle for the podium place and having flashbacks in his previous race of what James did.*
* Ok 2:0. - *Svetoslav Kostov when he finished the 2023 Indycar Pacific Grand Prix.*