Costa on DragonSpeed’s “Full Attack” in GTD Pro Title Fight

DragonSpeed’s Albert Costa says the team has gone “full attack” as the GTD Pro title fight between its No. 81 Ferrari 296 GT3 and the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports crew has tightened following Sunday’s Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

A second-place class finish for Costa and co-driver Davide Rigon and a fourth-place result for the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R has cut Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims’ championship lead from 53 down to a mere 18 points heading into next month’s title-deciding Motul Petit Le Mans.

Costa said the Elton Julian-led squad is targeting a win to ensure they take the title out of their competitors’ grasp.

Notably, the DragonSpeed Ferrari and factory-supported Corvette squad head to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with one win apiece this season.

Garcia and Sims recorded a total of five podiums, with Costa finding the podium six times this season, including five consecutive after Sunday’s runner-up result.

“We need to win,” said Costa. “We need to be in front of them or win. A nice battle on track, I hope.

“We need to do the same [as always], focus on our job and don’t think about the others, just on ourselves, and the rest will come.

“I’m super proud of the team. They are doing an amazing job. No mistakes. Full attack.”

DragonSpeed converted a sixth-place starting position into a second place finish in Sunday’s six-hour Michelin Endurance Cup round, only losing out to the No. 64 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 of Mike Rockenfeller and Sebastian Priaulx by a 0.594 seconds after a late restart.

Crucially for his title aspirations, Costa brought his No. 81 Ferrari across the line two positions ahead of the No. 3 Corvette.

“That was the target this weekend,” he said. “To maximize the points to them; to come to Petit Le Mans with maximum possibilities to win there.

“It’s amazing because we had really bad luck in qualifying yesterday with different issues, but the way we came back today is amazing.

“This morning, when we had the[pre-race] meeting, we decided to just be in front of the 3 [car], but this is better than what we expected.”

Costa Asked to Stay in the Car “To Fight” in the Closing Stages

The Spaniard, who spent three hours and 49 minutes behind the wheel of the Ferrari and completed double stints to bookend the race, said he felt “dead” in the car after asking his team to stay aboard and fight to the finish of the chaotic and caution-filled contest.

“I was trying to save energy because I knew at the end, something always happens with a full-course yellow or a safety car,” he explained.

“They asked me if I wanted to change drivers, and I said, ‘No, no, no. I want to fight.’ I was happy to be there, but it was difficult. At the end, I was so close, but the Ford was stronger.”

Costa felt that a class win at The Brickyard could have been on the table after a late yellow was called in the final ten minutes, set up a green-white-checkered finish and bunched up the competitive field.

He said the yellow was likely after studying the tire degradation on the eventual class-winning Mustang GT3 ahead of him.

“At one point, 60 minutes to the end, because I was watching on the TVs, I said, ‘Guys, let it flow. It’s coming. It’s coming,’ because I saw the Ford sliding a lot,” said Costa.

“I was trying to save more tires than him, but I was also saving energy. The job was so heavy. I was so stressed inside there.

“But at the end, he actually celebrated one lap before and I thought, ‘If he backs off, I’ll pass him’ because he was already weaving.

“He thought he was already at the end of the race, but not. And then I was close and he did some mistakes and I caught him, but it was not enough to pass him.”