Target Competition is an Italian

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primaril ...

team based in

Eppan an der Weinstraße Eppan an der Weinstraße (; it, Appiano sulla Strada del Vino ), often abbreviated to Eppan or Appiano, is a ''comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about southwest of the city of Bolzano. Geography As of 30 November ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The team is currently competing in the

World Touring Car Cup The FIA World Touring Car Cup (abbreviated to WTCR, referring to the use of TCR regulations) was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It h ...

and others TCR series. The team has previously raced in the

TCR Europe Touring Car Series The TCR Europe Touring Car Series is an annual touring car racing event that is held at various locations across Europe. The series is run in accordance with the TCR Touring Car regulations with production-based cars that are front-wheel drive and ...

, SEAT León Eurocup and

TCR International Series The TCR International Series was an international touring car championship. The championship was promoted by World Sporting Consulting (WSC), founded by former World Touring Car Championship manager Marcello Lotti. It was marketed as a cost-eff ...

TCR International Series

SEAT León Cup Racer (2015)

After having raced in the SEAT León Eurocup in 2014, the team entered the 2015 TCR International Series season with

Michel Nykjær Michel Nykjær (born 17 September 1979) is a Danish auto racing driver. Nykjær is a two-time European Touring Car Cup winner. Career Early years Between 1989 and 1993 he spent his early racing years in karting. After a break, he returned to mo ...

, Stefano Comini and

Andrea Belicchi Andrea Belicchi (born 18 December 1976) is an Italian professional racing driver. He has competed in such series as the Porsche Supercup, Le Mans Series and FIA World Endurance Championship. He won the Russian Formula Three Championship in 2002 ...

driving an SEAT León Cup Racer each. In the Chinese round they entered a fourth SEAT for Alex Yang, however he was about to become a father, so he was replaced by

Jiang Tengyi Jiang Tengyi (, born January 30, 1985 in Shanghai) is a Chinese racing driver who drives for A1 Team China. In 1998 he took part in the Chinese KART Cup and raced to third place. In 2000, he repeated his performance in the KART Title Match (In ...

. Nykjær however left the team after the Russian round, due to budget issues. He was replaced by

Michela Cerruti Michela Cerruti (born 18 February 1987) is an Italian racing driver, currently competing in the TCR International Series, with Mulsanne Racing. Career Born in Rome, Cerruti attended the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, studying P ...

. For the second Austrian round at

Red Bull Ring The Red Bull Ring is a motorsport race track in Spielberg, Austria, Spielberg, Styria, Austria. The race circuit was founded as Österreichring (translation: Austrian Circuit) and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix for 18 consecutive years, from t ...

they again fielded a fourth SEAT, this time for Gabriele Marotta. Comini won the championship with 30 points clear of his nearest challenger

Pepe Oriola Josep "Pepe" Oriola Vila (born 9 July 1994) is a Spanish racing driver. He became the youngest driver to race in the World Touring Car Championship when he competed in the 2011 season. Oriola is not only the youngest driver to start a WTCC race ...

while the team won the Teams' championship 19 points clear of

Craft-Bamboo Racing Craft-Bamboo Racing is an auto racing team. It was founded in 2014 after the merger of Craft Racing from Hong Kong and Bamboo Engineering from the United Kingdom. Craft Racing was established by Frank Yu in 2009 and was a front running team i ...

Opel Astra TCR, Honda Civic TCR and SEAT León Cup Racer (2016)

Comini left the team to join

Leopard Racing Leopard Racing is a Luxembourg–Italian motorcycle racing team competing in the Moto3 class of the FIM Grand Prix World Championship. The team has won two Moto3 Teams' Championships. History Leopard Racing was founded by Flavio Becca at th ...

for the following season. The team also switched to the new Opel Astra TCR. Initially fielding two Astras for

and

Jordi Oriola Jordi Oriola Vila (born 21 June 1996) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing in the SEAT León Eurocup. He previously competed in the TCR International Series and European Touring Car Cup. Racing career Oriola began his career in 20 ...

the team would take sabbatical as the car needed more development before returning at

Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical r ...

with single Honda Civic TCR for Oriola. Oriola raced with the Civic once again at

Salzburgring The Salzburgring is a motorsport race track located in Plainfeld, east of Salzburg. Key Facts Track Length Bends 15 Straights ...

before the team taking another hiatus until the rounds in Asia. in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and

Buriram Buriram (, , , 'city of happiness') is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in Thailand, capital of Buriram Province, about northeast of Bangkok. The town occupies '' tambon'' Nai Mueang of Mueang Buriram District. In 2012 it had a population of 27,8 ...

the team fielded one Civic for

Rafaël Galiana Rafaël Galiana (born 29 May 1960) is a French racing driver currently competing in the TCR International Series. He previously competed in the Peugeot 206 Cup. Racing career Galiana began his career in 1986 in karting. In 2001 he switched to ...

and one SEAT León TCR for

Loris Hezemans Loris Hezemans (born 26 May 1997) is a Dutch professional racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 27 Ford Mustang for Team Hezeberg and part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driving the No. 33 Toyota ...

. Galiana and Hezemans would swap cars at

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

and fielding additional Civic for TCR Germany champion

Josh Files Joshua Luke Files (born 9 January 1991) is a British racing driver currently competing in the TCR International Series. Having previously competed in the Renault Clio Cup United Kingdom and Eurocup Clio amongst others. Files won both championsh ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Target Competition official website
Italian auto racing teams TCR International Series teams Auto racing teams established in 2004