Carla Costa is a Portuguese driver from the Azores, Portuguese-administered islands in the Atlantic.
Her career began as far back as 1998 and her first car was a Renault 4, an unlikely rally car. Nevertheless, she used it between 1998 and 2002, before replacing it with a sportier Citroen AX.
It was in 2005 that she started competing regularly, using a 1200cc Renault Clio. Co-driven by Elisabete Nunes, she won her class in two events: the Rali FM Ilha Azul and the Alem Mar Ilha Lilas rally.
The first part of her career ends here. She did not compete again for ten years, but made her return in 2015, entering the Azores Ladies' Trophy, a women-only rally series with its own events. Her car was a Citroen Saxo and her co-driver was her daughter, Barbara. They won the last event of the championship, the Especial Sprint da Riviera, outright, after third places in the two previous rounds. This was enough to secure her the ladies' championship title.
She competed in the Ladies’ Trophy again in 2016, and won the first two rounds, the Rali Regional Vila Nova and the Rali Praia da Vittoria. A retirement in the third round dropped her to third in the championship. Her car was a Renault Clio.
Her navigator since that year was still her daughter, and the pair continued to rally together for the first couple of events in 2017. With Rul Avila, Carla won two "Ladies & Veterans" rallies outright in the 2017 Azores championship. She was driving the Clio.
She was back in mixed competition in 2018, still in the Clio. She earned two top-twenty finishes in the Sical and Ilha Graciosa rallies.
In 2019, she was second in the Azores ladies' championship, first in the asphalt series, with a best finish of 22nd in the Acoreana Rali. This year, she had several different co-drivers, the most frequent being Lisandra Inacio.
After a year off during the first part of the worldwide coronavirus crisis, she returned to the stages for the 2021 PicoWines Rali, finishing 26th. This was followed up by another win in the 2022 Azores Ladies' championship and had a best finish of eighth in the Rali Ilha Graciosa, driving a Renault Clio.
She was very active again in the Clio in 2023, finishing thirteenth in the Azores championship and scoring another eighth spot in the Ilha Graciosa Rally.
Another Azores championship season proceeded in 2024, including a sixth place in Especial Sprint Motorshow. She ended the year Azores ladies' champion again and was 16th in the championship.
Her son Diogo and husband Joao have both competed as co-drivers and drivers. In 2024, Carla, Joao and Diogo all drove in the Rali Alem Mar - Ilha Lilas event. Joao was 20th, Carla was 30th and Diogo crashed out.
