Da Costa Laments “Horrendous” Penalty that Cost JOTA Third

Antonio Felix da Costa was frustrated by the severity of what he called a “horrendous” drive-through penalty for unsafely rejoining the track that cost Hertz Team JOTA third place in Saturday’s 8 Hours of Bahrain.

The Portuguese driver ran wide at Turn 1 after locking up the tires of his No. 38 Porsche 963 and returned to the track near the D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GTE.

A stewards’ report deemed that the JOTA machine shared by da Costa, Will Stevens and Yifei Ye “rejoined at the entry of T2 in an unsafe manner.”

The drive-through sent it from third to fifth, behind the two Ferrari 499Ps that da Costa had fought to overtake.

He regained fourth from Antonio Giovinazzi but faced a stern defense from Nicklas Nielsen and the No. 38 Porsche ultimately missed out on the podium by 0.9 seconds.

Before the penalty, da Costa had closed to within 12 seconds of the second-placed Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Jose Maria Lopez.

“I could see Pechito at some points at the end of the straight,” he said.

“But honestly, [second] was never our goal. When we thought third place was under control, we started to target one lap longer stints to save fuel and avoid a splash at the end.

“We decided to secure third place at that point and not really target the Toyota.

“And then we got hit with that horrendous, incomprehensible [sic] drive-through. I cannot understand it.

“I locked up my wheels and went wide [so] I penalized myself. It’s a racing car: there is no visibility to see who is coming. I re-joined… it’s not like I went to the middle of the track. I stayed the furthest left-hand side to do my corner.”

He continued: “Everybody on the track knows what they are doing. I don’t even think the Aston Martin complained. Then I got told I had a drive-through. I cannot comprehend it, I really can’t.

“I’m sorry, but this is too harsh. I didn’t hit anyone [or] compromise anyone. I didn’t ruin anyone’s race. I only hurt myself. Give me a five-second at the pit stop if you want.

“We see people in F1 hit each other and get five seconds at the pit stop. And I got a drive-through for that? I am speechless, very sad and very angry.

“It’s my last one here [in the WEC] for I don’t know how long. We had everything to give this team a podium today and it hurts.”

Da Costa accepted responsibility for his off-track moment that resulted in the penalty.

“That time, we changed three tires apart from that front left,” he explained.

“So we just had different grip levels. I guess I just misjudged it. In that braking point, it was a bit bumpy and the tire didn’t have the grip for the brake pressure that I applied, and I locked up.

“That’s on me. It’s a car that requires a lot of pushing to go quick. We’ve seen a lot of people making mistakes in the Hypercar class and I was one more.

“That’s something that I slap myself on the wrist for.”

Despite the penalty, da Costa felt the race was his most enjoyable time behind the wheel of the Porsche as JOTA had a strong end to its first Hypercar season.

The 2019-20 ABB FIA Formula E world champion will not return to the WEC next year after Porsche told its drivers in the electric series to focus fully on that program.

“I had lots of fun,” said da Costa. “It was the most fun I’ve had in this car in the year, to be able to be competitive and fight on this track.

“Porsche are developing and improving. I think these guys will have a lot of fun next year.”