Jordi Oriola to pair up with brother’s title rival at Macau

Jordi Oriola will make his first appearance at the Guia Race of Macau in two weeks’ time, his third entry in the TCR International Series this season, driving one of Target Competition’s SEAT Leóns. Oriola’s appearance at Macau, with sponsorship from casino chain Cali Group, makes him effectively team-mate to points leader Stefano Comini, his older brother Pepe’s chief rival for the Series’ inaugural crown.

The 19-year-old has already driven for Target Competition during this year’s SEAT León Eurocup, so has a prior relationship with the Italian team, which currently lead the drivers’ standings with Comini by two points over Pepe Oriola, and are also in a close battle with Team Craft-Bamboo Lukoil Racing for the teams’ trophy.

Target’s line-up for the Macau finale will be bolstered by the return of Andrea Belicchi, who missed the first two rounds of the Asian leg of the season, even though the sports car veteran was still at the time in outside contention for the drivers’ title.

An erroneous item on the entry list included British Touring Car Championship driver Jeff Smith on the entry for this year’s Macau Grand Prix. The Eurotech Racing team owner confirmed to TouringCarTimes they were in talks but these never came to fruition, meaning as it stands, the only British drivers to contest the TCR International Series at Macau are with James Nash driving for Proteam/FRD Sports and Rob Huff making his TCR debut with WestCoast Racing, both making their TCR debuts that weekend.