Target Competition

**Target Competition** is an Italian auto racing team based in Eppan an der Weinstraße, Italy. The team is currently competing in the TCR Europe Touring Car Series and TCR Italy Touring Car Championship. The team has previously raced in the SEAT León Eurocup, ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship and TCR International Series.

## TCR International Series

After competing in the SEAT León Eurocup in 2014, the team entered the innaugural TCR International Series season entering three SEAT León Cup Racer for Michel Nykjær, Stefano Comini and Andrea Belicchi. In Shanghai they initially entered a fourth SEAT for Alex Yang, however due to personal issues he was was replaced by Jiang Tengyi. Nykjær left the team after the Sochi round and his place was taken by one-off entries. Belicchi also missed the rounds at Red Bull Ring, Chang and Singapore, but returned at Macau. Comini won the innaugural championship 342 points, while Target, who for the entire season have entered 11 drivers, won the Teams' Championship.

For the 2016 season the team was suposed to compete with the all-new Opel Astra TCR, entering two cars for Belicchi and Jordi Oriola. But after the Bahrain round the team withdrew to help with the car's development. For reasons unknown, the team switched to Honda Civic TCR and returned at Imola with Jordi Oriola behind the wheel. For the remainder of the season, the team would enter various drivers, mostly on one or two race deals such as Roberto Colciago, Rafaël Galiana, Josh Files and Loris Hezemans driving either a Honda Civic TCR or SEAT León TCR.

## ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship

The team initially was going to enter the 2016 ADAC TCR Germany championship with three Opel Astra TCR cars for Josh Files, Jürgen Schmarl and Mike Beckhusen, but switched to SEAT León Cup Racer for the start of the season. Gradually Files and Schmarl got behind the wheel of the Honda Civic TCR with a SEAT León TCR being entered under the Target Junior Team banner for guest drivers. Josh Files won the title with 222 points, while Target won the teams' championship.

For the 2017 season the team entered eight cars - four Honda Civic Type R TCR and four Audi RS3 LMS TCR. The team was split into four separate two-car entities - Target Competition UK-SUI (which was supported by Pyro Motorsport and raced under British flag) consisted of reigning champion Josh Files and 2016 European Touring Car Cup winner Kris Richard, Target Competition AUT-POR had Jürgen Schmarl and José Rodrigues (Rodrigues left after five rounds), Gosia Rdest (in the first five rounds) and Simon Larsson formed the Target Competition POL-SWE team, while Tom Lautenschlager and Tim Zimmermann were competing under the Target Competition GER banner. Files successfully defended his title, defeating the likes of Mike Halder and Sheldon van der Linde.

## TCR Italy Touring Car Championship

In 2017 the team entered Giacomo Altoè in one-off weekend during the season finale at Monza. For 2018 the team expanded into full season operation entering 3 Honda Civic Type R TCR cars for Jürgen Schmarl, José Rodrigues (later replaced by César Machado) and Marco Pellegrini. In 2019 the team scaled down to a single Hyundai i30 N TCR for Pellegrini

## TCR Europe

The team entered the 2017 TCR Europe Trophy entering two Honda Civic Type R TCR for Giacomo Altoè and Josh Files. Files won the first race, but finished 7th in the second race, finishing 3rd overall, while Altoé scored two second place finishes and ended up on equal points with Aurélien Comte. But as Comte was classified as the winner Altoé was classified second.

For 2018 TCR Europe was upgraded from trophy to series. The team left ADAC TCR Germany to concentrate on the TCR Europe campaingn. The team entered three Hyundai i30 N TCR cars for Reece Barr, Dušan Borković and Kris Richard. The season started well with Borković winning the opening two races at Paul Ricard. But as the Hyundai was hit the maximum weight, lower power and added ride height, the team was uncompetitive at the following round at Zandvoort. After that the team's results fluctuated due to various circumstances. Some of the team's drivers also entered into trouble - Dušan Borković was excluded from the races at Monza after post race altercation with PCR Sport personel after Race 2, while Kris Richard was excluded from the season finale at Barcelona for questioning the stewards' decisions on social media. Despite the off track controversies Borković was still with theoretical chances for the titles, but in the second race at Barcelona he crashed with Attila Tassi on the first lap. In the end Borković finished the season third.

For the 2019 season the team enteres five Hyundai i30 N TCR cars for Dušan Borković, Josh Files, Mat'o Homola and the Bäckman siblings Andreas and Jessica. The team is also split into two - all five drivers can score points in the TCR Europe teams' standings, while Files, Borković and Homola can also score points in the TCR BeNeLux championships under the Autodis Racing by Target Competition banner

## Notes

1. ↑ The actual race win was scored by Gabriele Tarquini, but as the Hyundai i30 N TCR was not homologated yet, he was ineligible for points.
2. ↑ TCR BeNeLux is open to Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourgish drivers and also foreign drivers, competing for teams registered in Belgium, the Netherlands or Luxembourg. Since Autodis Racing by Target Competition is racing under Luxembourg flag, its registered drivers - Dušan Borković, Josh Files and Mat'o Homola - are also eligible to score points in TCR BeNeLux