Targett is filling a vacant slot with Earl Bamber Motorsport, the same team he competes for in Carrera Cup Australia.
The Gold Coast-based driver was at Queensland Raceway crewing on Speedcafe’s Production Car Series BMW when he received the call-up from Bamber on Saturday morning.
Targett said backing from The Cover Shop, Shure Microphones and Voyage Clothing made the last-minute opportunity possible.
He’ll drive the #76 EBM entry regularly campaigned by Thai driver Munkong ‘Turbo’ Sathienthirakul.
“It was all organised within about 48 hours and I jumped on the plane on Tuesday night and came over here,” Targett told Speedcafe.
“I would have liked to have spent some time in the sauna and stuff to prepare but there wasn’t a lot of time.
Buy tickets
“I’ve been running around organising sponsors for the car, getting stickers made, making sure I had flights, a hotel and the right visa – it’s quite tricky getting entry forms for Indonesia.
“I also tested Carrera Cup Australia at The Bend on Monday, so that was a day I thought I might be able to organise stuff that went out the window. It was kind of just chaos.
“But I’m very lucky I’ve got some good supporters on for the weekend and am grateful to ‘Turbo’ and his family for the opportunity to drive the car.”
Located in a resort area on Lombok Island, the 4.3km Mandalika circuit opened in 2021 and hosts the nation’s annual MotoGP event.
“I’m quite the avid MotoGP fan, so I think I know which way the track goes at least,” Targett added amid his whirlwind preparation.
“They’ve never raced Carrera Cup here so there’s not really any previous footage, but they have done GT World Challenge, so I’ve watched a bit of that too.”
Targett has one previous Carrera Cup Asia round to his name, contesting the season opener at Shanghai on the Formula 1 support card last year.
He finished fifth and sixth in the two races which marked his first taste of the 992-spec Carrera Cup car, kicking off a year in which he won Australia’s Sprint Challenge for 991 machines.
Experience in the 992 model in Carrera Cup Australia leaves him well placed to perform strongly this weekend.
“We had quite a big struggle at Queensland Raceway a few weeks ago and started to resolve some of those issues towards the end of the weekend and found a lot of speed,” he said.
“Then at The Bend during the week we did a lot of work on the car and were quite happy with where we ended up.
“I think coming here it’s quite a similar track to The Bend, it’s very smooth, very fast, high speed, flowing, so I think if we get it right, we can end up on the podium.”
Targett said he was able to pack some creature comforts for his Indonesian adventure, including to combat the sweltering conditions.
“I jammed every single piece of seat padding from my seat at home into my race bag,” he added.
“Lachy [Harburg] from The Cover Shop sent me over a heat shield for the windscreen which I’ll need and a custom car cover, that was jammed in there as well.
“My baggage was 24kg in the end. It’s lucky I didn’t need to pack any jumpers because there’s no room!”
Targett will be part of a four-car EBM team at Mandalika that includes Kiwi Brock Gilchrist, with whom he was teammates in last year’s Sprint Challenge.
Discussion about this post