South African Touring Cars

Following the folding of the National Production Car Championship in late 2015,^[3] South Africa lacked a premier touring car racing series. The Sasol GTC Championship (which had been in development for nearly four years), spearheaded by Vic Maharaj and Gary Formato, was given the green light by Motorsport South Africa in March 2015.^[4]

The new series was set to be attractive due to its lower costs (reportedly ZAR200,000 less for a season than the NPCC).^[4] All the cars would run identical six-speed Albins sequential gearboxes (identical to those used in the Supercars Championship), shock absorbers, suspension and brakes in order to aid cost-saving. The car regulations would be frozen for the series's first five seasons, and car development was banned. Originally slated to consist of four manufacturers (Audi, Ford, Nissan and Jaguar) fielding 12 cars between them, there were only 10 cars fielded in the inaugural race at Zwartkops Raceway. With Nissan and Jaguar completely pulling out before the championship even began, the series attracted Volkswagen and BMW to also enter two and four cars respectively.^[5]

The inaugural season calendar consisted of seven rounds with two races each, except for the rounds at Killarney Race Track and Aldo Scribante, of which each had three races. It kicked off at Zwartkops Raceway on the 9th of August, seeing South African racing veteran Michael Stephen take the series' first ever victory. The season finale was staged at Prince George Circuit in East London, with Stephen being crowned the first Sasol GTC champion. Gennaro Bonafede finished as championship runner-up with five victories to his name.^[6]

The cars consist of a single-specification tubular chassis with metal bodywork, supplied by the manufacturer. Each manufacturer also provides a turbocharged 2-litre petrol engine which produces a maximum of 436 bhp and 600 nm of torque. All cars are rear-wheel drive. The gearboxes are standardised Albins six-speed sequential gearboxes, the same gearboxes used in the Australian Supercars Championship. Suspension parts, dampers and brakes are also standard across all cars, and all cars run slick tyres provided by Dunlop.^[7] Traction control and Anti-lock braking systems are banned. Sasol provides fuel to all cars. The cars were anticipated to reach up to 280 km/h prior to the first season.^[8]

Following a series of engine issues during the first round of the 2017 season, changes had to be introduced to lessen stress on the engines. This included setting an RPM-limit of 7200, as well as decreasing the absolute boost pressure of the turbochargers to 2100 millibar.^[9]

The GTC2 class allows for production racing cars only, also with 2-litre turbocharged petrol engines, but instead capped to 281 bhp.^[10] The cars have to be front-wheel drive and must keep their factory engines, gearboxes and dashboards. Limited-slip differentials are permitted in order to aid traction. They use steel tube roll cages built by South African ex-racing driver Etienne van der Linde. Unlike in the GTC Class, aftermarket shock absorbers are permitted, but are cost-capped at R50 000 per set. Each car is given one set of Dunlop slick tyres at the beginning of a season, and then two fresh tyres at each race.