Posted in

GT newcomer leaves door ajar for Supercars future

GT newcomer leaves door ajar for Supercars future

A prodigious teen in Porsche racing, Targett was signed to Grove Racing in 2024 and won Porsche Sprint Challenge that year.

He graduated to Porsche Carrera Cup Australia in 2025 but was released by Grove Racing by the season’s end with one podium to his name.

Targett had eyed a graduation to the Super2 Series but has instead committed to the GT path this year.

The move was motivated by a desire to become a professional while pitting himself against established Supercars drivers.

Targett was impressive on debut, finishing second to Triple Eight star Broc Feeney and just ahead of Tickford Racing’s Thomas Randle – both in Audi R8s.

“There weren’t really many opportunities looking into Supercars,” Targett told Speedcafe.

“It was getting to a point where a lot of drivers were funding their way in and I wasn’t really in a position to do that.

“I think Supercars should be a category where if you’re good enough, you should be getting paid to do it – and there’s an opportunity to do that in GT.

“It’s what I’ve always wanted to do as well, number one over anything. I did Sprint Challenge and Carrera Cup and GT always made sense as the next step of progression. It made a lot of sense to come here.

“Tigani Motorsport has been great. I got in touch with Nathan [Tigani] and said, ‘what can we do?’ And very quickly he was like, ‘Yep, you’re in. Let’s have a crack’.”

Shane Smollen (left) and Oscar Targett finished second in the first GT World Challenge Australia race at Phillip Island.

While Targett’s immediate focus is on GT racing, he remains interested in Supercars.

Round 1 of the series at Phillip Island will feature eight Supercars drivers – including full-timers Broc Feeney, Thomas Randle, Ryan Wood and Jayden Ojeda.

The opportunity to race against – and potentially beat – them is at the forefront of Targett’s mind, something he said could put him back on the radar of Supercars teams.

“If someone walked up and said, ‘I’ve got a Supercars drive for you, do you want to have a crack?’ I’m definitely not going to say no,” he said.

“The market is so competitive at the moment to get into Supercars and it’s just so hard.

“Super2 is, Super2. If you don’t have the right car you’re nowhere and if you don’t do Super2 you can’t get to Supercars.

“Everyone’s seen with my now teammate Jayden Ojeda, he did Super2 but then came and did the GT stuff and everyone saw how good he was and he’s got an opportunity there in Supercars.

“I’m the least experienced driver in this category, probably. It’s not going to be easy at all, so if I can go out and do a good job here, everyone can go, ‘OK, well, you must be all right if you can compete with these guys’.”

The two-horse race to win all-expenses-paid Spa 24 drive

This article first appeared on Speedcafe.com, a sister site to MotorRacing.com.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *