Target Competition has announced that it is withdrawing from the TCR Europe season with immediate effect, citing discontent with the current Balance of Performance [BoP] parameters.
The Italian outfit has been contesting the full season of TCR Europe with Dušan Borković, whilst it also entered a second car this weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard for Italian series regular Marco Butti.
In Italy, Butti has scored every pole position in the three events held so far in 2023, and sits fifth overall in the standings. But in TCR Europe qualifying in France on Saturday, the young Italian, along with Borković, was over a second off the pace of the leading Comtoyou Racing Audis.
The team released a statement explaining its withdrawal, whilst also adding it was receptive to a future return.
“We are sad to announce that the Target Competition team and its drivers will not participate in TCR Europe, effective immediately.
“From the season opener in Portimão the category Balance of Performance (BoP) was very unfavourable for our cars. We tried our best as a team to overcome the performance gap on track this created.
“We had great results in Pau, because the track was lacking straight where the effects of the BoP are particularly obvious, and our driver Borković did an amazing job driving over the weekend.
“This decision didn’t come overnight, and it was a hard one.
“After a poor qualifying session losing two seconds per lap, due to a combination of the poor BoP for our Hyundai Elantra N TCR cars, and 30 kg of compensation weight for Borković, we decided to withdraw both cars from the competition.
“It is not acceptable for our team and drivers to compete in this situation and it is not the racing conditions that we aim for.
“We want to keep our reputation as a winning team, with winning drivers.
“We are open to returning to the series if a solution is presents, as promised at the beginning of the season.”