Targett, Smollen Join Expanded Tigani Mercedes-AMG Roster

Porsche Carrera Cup Australia graduate Oscar Targett will contest this year’s GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS in a Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG.

Targett will share the No. 66 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo with Shane Smollen, who is set for his first full season in the series after making what turned out to be a pair of one-off outings last year at Phillip Island and Hampton Downs.

The pair will contest the top Pro-Am class as Tigani expands to a five-car effort for the upcoming season, including four Mercedes-AMGs and a Trophy class Porsche.

Targett, 20, steps up to GT3s having spent most of his car racing career in one-make Porsche competition, winning the 2024 Porsche Sprint Australia Series and finishing 13th overall in Carrera Cup Australia last year with a single podium finish.

He was also a junior driver for the Grove Racing team in Australian Supercars, but that relationship came to an end upon the conclusion of the 2025 season.

Smollen, meanwhile, is finally set for a first full year in GT3s after contesting last year’s Phillip Island opener for the short-lived EMA Motorsport Porsche effort, and then the season finale in Hampton Downs in a Mach 1 Engineering Mercedes-AMG.

He scored a best finish of fourth at Phillip Island sharing the EMA Porsche with Dorian Boccolacci, and and bagged another top-five alongside Ant Pedersen in New Zealand.

Smollen previously won the 2023 Monochrome GT4 Australia Series title, and returned to that series last year for a partial campaign in between his GTWC Australia outings.

Tigani now has only one driver lineup left to reveal in its expanded roster, following confirmation late last year of Brendon Leitch joining Sergio Pires in the Geyer Valmont-backed entry and this week’s news of the Koundouris brothers staying on.

Targett and Smollen are set to test the No. 66 Mercedes-AMG at Phillip Island next week, with the season due to start at the same track on March 27-29.