Ian Costa Racing

BMW Formula One Race Car

Ian Costa Biography: The man beneath the helmet

Ian Costa

Ian Costa is 18 years old and resides in Danville, California. His passion to race was ignited when his father Dan bought a used Quarter Midget kart for Ian when he was 7. He never raced, but on weekends Ian and his father would go to a nearby parking lot where Ian could tear up the asphalt. Eventually he could not fit in the quarter midget and grew out of it.

Ian’s passion was revived with a trip to Europe in 2002 when he was 13, where he was exposed to the varieties of motor racing, particularly Formula One.

A year later in 2003, Ian began racing karts in the ultra-competitive Jim Russell Racing series at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, under the watchful eye and guidance of Reed Stevens. As Ian grew older, he refined his skills and honed his smooth but aggressive driving style and fierce race craft.

In 2006 Ian focused on preparing for the big jump to cars. His good friend Dennis Golden provided the opportunity to drive his car at NASA events to get accustomed to driving on a large circuit with something much heavier and bulkier than Ian’s kart. Ian then took a Skip Barber 3 day course and was the fastest driver present. He had also applied to compete for a prestigious scholarship from BMW in Spain. He was accepted and made it to the final round where only 4 drivers were chosen for the scholarship. Ian proved to the judges that he was worthy of one of the four scholarships and got the call one week later. “I fell out of my bed when I got the call at 7 in the morning!” recalls Ian.

When Ian isn’t at the track or working on anything racing related, he attends school as a senior at Monte Vista High School, in the fall of 2007, he is attending Santa Barbara City College. “For the most part, I live a normal life, racing hasn’t changed much of my daily routine” says Ian. He likes to play guitar, hang out with friends, go to the movies, listen to music and has many other hobbies. Ian also enjoys going to classic car shows with his dad and uncle.

Ian’s ultimate goal in racing is to make it to Formula One or Champ Car, but right now he is taking it one step at a time.

Ian’s commitment to racing is what he tries to base his life around. He carries himself in a much more mature manner than his peers and is constantly working on ways to improve his performance on and off the track. Ian is always thinking of creative ways to ensure his sponsors have a great time supporting him.

Ian is looking forward to competing in the 2007 Formula BMW USA championship as a Junior Driver.

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