He will be one of 12 representatives in the Australian Team, which consists of six divisions. In the Micro Max and Mini Max (Costa’s division) classes there is only one representative in each. In Junior Max and Rotax Max classes the team takes two representatives. The DD2 and DD2 Masters divisions each have three representatives in the Australian Team.

On his way to winning the Australian Championship in the six-round series, Costa achieved six pole positions and four round wins.

Costa dominated the series and had an unassailable lead going into round six at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia.

In the final round, Costa was given a stock-standard Birel Kart to drive so he could get used to the machine that he would be driving in the world grand final in Brazil. They elected not to make any adjustments to the kart, which made the final round more challenging for the young Goulburn racer, who had already won the Australian Championship with the round to spare.

On the Saturday he dominated the racing, winning three races. However, in the final on Sunday, he was bumped and had was shuffled back in the order. He pushed hard to get himself into second, but New Zealand karter Sebastian Manson had enough of a margin for a comfortable win. The Kiwi was pushed all the way by Costa, a hard-charging Series Champion.

The Mini Max series in which Costa races is for karters 12 years of age and under. Most of his competitors are in either years 6 or year 7 at school. The Goulburn West Public School student is in Year 5.

Costa started kart racing in 2016 and became the NSW Cadet Nine Champion in that year. In 2017 he was second in NSW and this year he won both the NSW and Victorian State Championships as well as the Australian Championship.

Part of Costa’s karting success comes down to his ability to analyse the data from his on-board computer. This includes revs, max speed, temperature and his speed over the various sections of the course. He tries to understand where he can improve or how the mechanic can adjust the kart set up to get improve performance on the particular circuit. His school studies have helped with this and Goulburn West is understanding about his need to take time off to go racing. 

“Every circuit is different and track conditions, like wet or dry and the air and track surface temperature, can all influence performance,” he said. “I would like one day to race in Formula One.”