Andrea Belicchi completes Target Competition line-up for Bahrain

Andrea Belicchi will complete a two-car lineup for Target Competition in Bahrain, alongside previously announced Jordi Oriola.

The Italian, who took part in selected races for the team last year and was in contention for the title for most of the season, was also part of Target’s 1-2 in the Macau season finale in 2015.

The major change in the team is the new car, with the Opel Astra TCR moving its first steps in the Valencia tests, which were the first real occasion to work on the cars. More work is expected to be carried out over the Bahrain weekend which, due to the high temperatures, is considered as a reliability test as well as a chance to work on the setup of the Astra.

Opel Motorsport director Jörg Schrott commented: “We are a newcomer to the TCR Series with our Astra and we will definitely need a bit more time to further optimize the vehicle. Furthermore, the conditions in the desert are unique. Therefore, we should treat the two races in Bahrain as another important test. We aim to learn as much as possible to fine tune the Astra TCR for the coming races.”

Target Competition expect to further expand their programme in the TCR International Series, having previously suggested up to four cars in the championship.