Antonio Felix da Costa will return to the World Endurance Championship in 2026 as a part of Alpine’s manufacturing facility squad within the Hypercar class.
As reported by Motorsport.com final month, da Costa will be a part of a revamped line-up on the French automotive producer after ending a three-year spell with Porsche throughout which he primarily competed in Components E.
The Portuguese will mix his new WEC commitments with a full marketing campaign within the all-electric collection, the place he’ll swap to Jaguar alongside Mitch Evans.
Da Costa was beforehand an everyday within the WEC and secured the Le Mans-title double with Jota within the LMP2 class in 2022.
Nonetheless, after a maiden season within the Hypercar class with Jota’s buyer Porsche 963 LMDh in 2023, the German producer insisted on him diverting all his consideration to FE – a call that didn’t go down nicely with him.
Da Costa and Porsche agreed to go their other ways on the finish of the 2024/25 season, the place he completed fifth within the championship with 5 podiums however no wins.
“I’m delighted to affix the Alpine Endurance Workforce,” mentioned the 34-year-old. “Returning to the FIA World Endurance Championship was one among my essential aims, and I’m extraordinarily happy to take action with a producer that has been redefining itself in a daring and impressive means, and now competing on the forefront of endurance racing.
“Alpine is a model with a powerful racing heritage, and changing into a part of such a powerful ecosystem is really thrilling. The crew has been acting at a really excessive stage, lately scored its maiden victory with the A424, making this the proper second to start our collaboration. Everybody is aware of my ardour for endurance racing.
“I’ve labored extraordinarily arduous to develop as an entire driver on this self-discipline and, after profitable the LMP2 title, my objective now’s to contribute to Alpine’s success on the pinnacle. I sit up for working with the crew, my team-mates and all of the engineers and mechanics.”
Antonio Felix da Costa, Alpine
Picture by: Alpine
Alpine has but to announce how da Costa might be accommodated in its line-up, which is predicted to bear main modifications with each Mick Schumacher and Paul Loup Chatin set to depart the crew on the finish of 2025.
Chatin might be a part of Genesis’ new LMDh programme subsequent season, whereas Schumacher is thought to be in talks with McLaren and has additionally proven curiosity in returning to single-seaters.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Antonio,” mentioned Alpine crew principal Philippe Sinault. “We now have identified one another for a very long time, and our paths have usually crossed, significantly in F3 and Endurance racing. There has all the time been mutual respect between us, in addition to a want to work collectively sooner or later. It’s actually satisfying to see this want come true in the present day.
“Antonio is a pure racer who has all the time identified easy methods to get the perfect out of his automotive and has been a formidable competitor. His presence has left its mark on each crew and class he has raced for.
“He suits in completely with our philosophy: human, dedicated, and centered solely on effectivity. We share the identical ardour and imaginative and prescient, and we’re conversant in his atmosphere, so I’m assured that we’ll rapidly turn out to be absolutely operational and performant.
“Antonio will deliver rather a lot together with his expertise, character, and results-oriented tradition, and we’re enthusiastic about taking over future challenges collectively.”
Da Costa sampled the Alpine A424 for the primary time at Le Mans’s Buggati Circuit in a personal take a look at on Monday. He may also be on obligation in WEC’s official post-season take a look at in Bahrain subsequent month.
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