Oscar Targett turns heads on GTWC Australia debut: “I chased down Broc Feeney

At just 20 years old, Oscar Targett arrived in the GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS opener at Phillip Island as the new name on the grid. By the end of Race 1, he was the one applying pressure to reigning champion and Supercars standout Broc Feeney, closing a four-second gap to within a second and forcing one of Australia’s benchmark drivers to manage the race to the finish.

Making his debut aboard the #56 Kollosche AMG by Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3, sharing the car with Shane Smollen, Targett stepped up from Porsche one-make competition into a far more complex racing environment.

From Porsche Carrera Cup to GT3

But behind that speed lies a process of adaptation that is still very much ongoing. Having raced in Porsche Carrera Cup Australia with Earl Bamber Motorsport in 2025, Targett arrives in GT3 with recent experience in high-level one-make competition — but the step up is immediately noticeable.

“The cars handle quite different,” Targett explains. “There’s a lot more aero in these cars, and it makes a big difference, especially somewhere like Phillip Island.

“Corners in the Porsche Cup car, you’d have to lift or maybe even brake — here it’s full throttle. So it’s quite a lot faster, quite a bit different. Then you add driver changes, one-hour races, pit stops… it’s all very different.”

Fast start, but still learning the GT3 basics

From the outside, Targett looked immediately comfortable, running at the front of the field in his very first GT3 weekend. But even after pushing one of the benchmark drivers in the series to the limit, he is under no illusion about the learning curve still ahead.

“Even Jayden Ojeda, who drove away into the sunset in Race 2 in the Pro stint, comes in and says he’s still learning things.

“I’ve been able to learn the basics, and the guys at Tigani have been very, very good at helping me do that. I wouldn’t say I’ve got them down perfectly, but I’ve got a good understanding.

“Once you’ve got the basics sorted, then you can start to understand the intricacies of the car, the series, the team — all that sort of stuff.”

Racecraft potential

That understanding was already on display in Race 1. After being handed the car in a strong position by Smollen, Targett quickly moved forward and began reeling in Broc Feeney, steadily reducing the gap as the stint unfolded. Yet despite his pace advantage late in the race, he never quite got the opportunity to make a decisive move. It was a lesson in GT3 racecraft against one of the best.

“I think Broc was very good at putting his car in a position where, even when I got close enough on the last lap to feel the aero wash, I was always going to get that wash.

“He was very smart with that. But also, he looked like he was struggling quite badly with rear tyres, and he managed that gap perfectly.

“It would have been easy for him, when I started catching him, to push on and hold that gap for a few more laps, completely destroy the rear tyres, and then I would have caught him five laps faster and blaze past.

“So those are the things where you see someone like Broc is so smart. He just goes, ‘If I conserve the tyres enough and let them catch me, they won’t get me by the end of the race.’

“Where he very easily could have burnt the tyres off in three or four laps — and then we definitely would have caught him.”

Building confidence early

That performance also gave Targett early confidence in both his own pace and the strength of the pairing with Shane Smollen.

“I think the pairing with me and Shane is quite strong. No one’s going to roll out in the Pro field and be half a second faster than everyone. If you get everything right, you might be a tenth or two, because the competitiveness is so high.

“But Shane showed in that last stint that he was a second-plus that fast in the Am field at times. So if I can do my part and run in the top five pretty consistently, I think we’re in a position where we can be on the podium quite often, especially like we saw in Race 1.

“Shane did a great job to get to second and was able to hand me the car in a good position. And I was able to chase down Broc, and unfortunately I didn’t get him.

“But we showed that I’ve got generally enough pace as a Pro, and Shane’s definitely got more than enough pace as an Am.”

Learning to work as a driver pairing in GT3

It was a revealing insight. Not just into Feeney’s race management, but into Targett’s own awareness at this early stage of his GT3 career.

The move into GT3 also brings a fundamentally different dynamic compared to the one-make environment he came from. Now, performance is not just about individual speed, but about how effectively two drivers can work together across a race weekend.

“Yeah, it changes it massively,” he says. “Before, all the focus is on you — now it’s about how fast you can get to the end of the race as a combination.

“There’s no point in me going out in the first stint and destroying the tyres, then Shane gets in and has nothing to fight with.

“So it’s about understanding how you work together, how you both like the car set up. Luckily for us, we seem to like the car in a very similar way, so we’re not compromising too much on set ups.

“Even simple things — we poured another seat insert on Friday night so we didn’t have to move the pedals during the pit stop. Those little ergonomic things matter.

“And from a coaching point of view, the team has been great. I’ve also been able to help Shane a bit this weekend, just improving slowly. I think it showed, the pace he had in qualifying and the races was very good.

“So the focus isn’t just on me, it’s how we together get to the end of the race the fastest.”

The realities of GT3 racing

Despite the strong start, Targett was quick to point out that not everything about GT3 is glamorous.

“The repair bills,” he laughs. “Not that nice, but we haven’t done any damage yet, so that’s alright.”

The physical demands of GT3 machinery, particularly at a high-speed circuit like Phillip Island, are another step up from what he was used to.

“I think I probably need to do some more neck exercises as well. It’s quite a toll around here. There’s a lot more downforce. A Cup car honestly just feels like driving a simulator — you don’t really get any strain on your body, unless you hit something.

“Here, you can feel the load. You can feel the G-force on your neck, your body. In really loaded corners, you can even feel your stomach start to move around.

“So that’s a big step up physically. I had no issues, but it’s definitely something you notice.”

Why Targett is choosing GT3 over Supercars

For Targett, however, the biggest shift may not be technical or physical, but directional.

Having come through Grove Racing, a structure closely linked to Supercars, the traditional path would have pointed towards Australia’s top touring car category. Instead, his focus has shifted elsewhere.

“I’ve always liked GT racing from the second I got into car racing. Globally, getting paid to do it was always the goal.

“But with the connections I had in the past, Supercars made sense as a pathway.

“In the last few years though, it’s started to make less and less sense. Super2 is a bit of a disaster, to be truthful — you don’t know what car or team you’re getting. And in Supercars, there are people paying for drives.

“So I definitely wouldn’t say no. If someone came up and said, ‘We can see you’re competitive with Supercar drivers, do you want to come drive?’ I most certainly wouldn’t say no.

“But yeah, the goal for me is definitely to become a professional GT driver.”

After a debut weekend where he pushed one of the benchmark drivers in Australia to the limit, that goal already looks a realistic one.

GT World Challenge Australia Phillip Island Race 1 podium (L-R: Shane Smollen, Oscar Targett, Broc Feeney, Brad Schumacher, Thomas Randle, Mark Rosser)

Tom Lee contributed to this report.