2016 Global Touring Car Championship

The 2016 Global Touring Car Championship (commercially known as the 2016 Sasol GTC Championship) was the inaugural season of the Global Touring Car Championship, a South African touring car racing series. The series was scheduled for six rounds, consisting of a total of fourteen races from 9 August until 3 December.

Michael Stephen became the series's first champion, taking seven race wins from the first eight races behind the wheel of an Audi A3 GTC. Daniel Rowe took the title in GTC Production, the second class of the series consisting of production racing cars, driving a Volkswagen Golf GTi.[1] BMW took the manufacturer's title in the GTC Class, while Volkswagen secured the GTC Production title.

Teams and drivers edit

GTC edit

Manufacturer Car Team No. Drivers Rounds
  Audi Audi A3 GTC Engen Xtreme Team 12   Michael Stephen All
38   Simon Moss All
  BMW BMW M2 GTC Sasol GTC Racing Team 08   Hennie Groenewald All
32   Gennaro Bonafede All
EPS Couriers BMW 14   Johan Fourie 2-5
Rustenburg Steel Construction BMW 95   Michael van Rooyen 4-5
  Volkswagen Volkswagen Jetta GTC Volkswagen Motorsport 21   Graeme Nathan All
57   Matthew Hodges All

GTC Production edit

Manufacturer Car Team No. Drivers Rounds
  Volkswagen Volkswagen Golf GTi Volkswagen Motorsport 11   Daniel Rowe All
44   Mandla Mdakane All
VW Genuine Parts 15   Charl Smalberger All
Kalex VW 35   Devon Piazza Musso 5-6
  Ford Ford Focus ST N/A 42   Shaun Duminy 1-5
  BMW BMW Z4 GTCX Zambezi Auto 74   Mark du Toit 3

Calendar edit

Round Circuit Date Pole position Overall Winner GTC-P Winner
1 R1   Zwartkops Raceway, Centurion 9 August   Michael Stephen   Michael Stephen   Shaun Duminy
R2   Michael Stephen   Michael Stephen   Daniel Rowe
2 R1   Aldo Scribante Circuit, Port Elizabeth 10 September   Michael Stephen   Michael Stephen   Daniel Rowe
R2   Michael Stephen   Michael Stephen   Charl Smalberger
R3   Michael Stephen   Michael Stephen   Daniel Rowe
3 R1   Killarney Race Track, Cape Town 24 September   Michael Stephen   Michael Stephen   Daniel Rowe
R2   Gennaro Bonafede   Gennaro Bonafede   Daniel Rowe
R3   Michael Stephen   Michael Stephen   Daniel Rowe
4 R1   Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit, Midrand 23 October   Gennaro Bonafede   Gennaro Bonafede   Daniel Rowe
R2   Gennaro Bonafede   Gennaro Bonafede   Daniel Rowe
5 R1   Zwartkops Raceway, Centurion 26 November   Michael Stephen   Michael Stephen   Daniel Rowe
R2   Michael Stephen   Gennaro Bonafede   Daniel Rowe
6 R1   Prince George Circuit, East London 3 December   Michael Stephen   Matthew Hodges   Charl Smalberger
R2   Michael Stephen   Gennaro Bonafede   Daniel Rowe

Championship standings edit

Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers as follows:[2]

Race Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th  FL
Points 50 38 28 20 14 9 6 4 2 1 3

Additionally, the top three placed drivers in qualifying will also receive points.

Qualifying Position  1st   2nd   3rd 
Points 5 3 1

Drivers' Standings edit

Pos. Driver ZWA1
 
ALD
 
KIL
 
KYA
 
ZWA2
 
PRI
 
Points
GTC Class
1   Michael Stephen 11 11 11 11 11 11 22 1 1 23 2 11 Ret1 51 5 1 619
2   Gennaro Bonafede 33 33 3 4 5 33 11 33 11 11 3 13 43 1 508
3   Matthew Hodges 2 4 6 3 6 Ret 6 5 42 5 4 4 1 43 296
4   Hennie Groenewald 5 DNS 4 5 3 4 5 Ret Ret Ret 2 2 2 2 262
5   Simon Moss 6 5 53 23 Ret2 22 33 22 3 Ret 7 Ret Ret2 DNS2 219
6   Graeme Nathan 4 2 7 6 4 Ret 7 Ret 5 3 6 6 3 3 215
7   Johan Fourie 22 Ret2 22 5 4 4 Ret Ret 5 32 198
8   Michael van Rooyen Ret 4 Ret 5 34
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap
1 – 5 Points for Pole
2 – 3 Points for P2
3 – 1 Point for P3

References edit

  1. ^ "Sasol GTC Championship Crowns Maiden Champion". GTC Africa. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  2. ^ "Racing Regulatrions". GTC Africa. Retrieved 7 December 2019.