Da Costa Felt Immediately “At Home” in Alpine A424

New Alpine FIA World Endurance Championship recruit Antonio Felix da Costa says he felt immediately ‘at home’ during his first proper day of on-track running aboard the A424 in the Bahrain rookie test last month.

Da Costa was announced in October as one of Alpine’s drivers for 2026 in will mark his first campaign in the WEC since he last raced for Hertz Team JOTA in 2023.

The 34-year-old had an initial test aboard the A424 LMDh at the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit before appearing in the rookie test that immediately followed the 8 Hours of Bahrain season finale, setting the best time across the day’s two sessions.

Explaining that the Le Mans outing only lasted four laps and was just for him to learn the car’s systems, da Costa said he was pleasantly surprised at how easy he found it to get up to speed in his first proper outing in Bahrain.

“I was worried it was going to take me time to get used to the car, but I felt after two or three laps, ‘I’m home’,” da Costa told Sportscar365. “I felt like I knew exactly what needed to be done. I was really happy with my first impression of the car.

“I feel like this car is a really well born car, done nicely; there’s no vibrations. It’s a car that invites you to be confident and push.

“The Porsche was a bit more difficult, I have to say — perhaps faster to start with, but harder to be on the limit with.”

Da Costa’s departure from the WEC was enforced by his employer Porsche, which wanted him to focus exclusively on his Formula E commitments for the marque, but that relationship came to an end upon the conclusion of the 2024/25 season.

The Portuguese driver will remain involved in Formula E with Jaguar, but there are no clashes between the all-electric series and WEC next year.

Remarking on his first impressions of working with Alpine, da Costa highlighted how much he feels valued even in his short time since joining the Signatech-run team.

“I’m super-happy to be back,” he said. “I have never hidden how passionate I am about endurance racing and how badly I wanted to get back into this paddock. I really didn’t want to miss out on the golden era of Hypercar.

“I have known Nico [Lapierre, sporting director] for a long time, I have raced him; I have known Philippe [Sinault, team principal] for a long time, and a few engineers in the team are people I have worked with before, so it has been an easy transition.

“I loved my time at Porsche. I had my hard times, and maybe the culture was different from what I personally need. I am an emotional guy and I need a bit of a family environment around me. I think this is the best team for that.

“I can’t express enough how much Philippe and the rest of the team welcomed me. I can see it in their eyes, in their faces, how we communicate with each other, how happy they are to have me here. The first contact has been great.”

Da Costa expressed confidence that Alpine has the potential to make another step forward in its third season in Hypercar after a much-improved sophomore campaign that yielded a first win with the A424 in the 6 Hours of Fuji.

He also expects the French manufacturer’s planned aero update, which will incur the use of at least one Evo joker, to boost its competitiveness.

“We are really doing a step with the technical side of the team,” said da Costa. “We have some new people coming on board, some expertise from Formula E coming on board as well. The car just needs to be cleaned up in a few areas.

“We don’t need to go looking for seconds. If we can clean up a little bit of software, a little bit the set-up, a little bit the strategy and [team] structure, then I think we have good tools to perform and finish in the top five on a consistent basis.

“Just a few more tenths alone would put us in a much better position, and when you have the pace to be in the top five, even strategy calls become a lot easier.

“Also with the Evo kit, from what I hear this car had some weakness in high-speed corners with the aero balance, so hopefully that will be improved as well.”