[Speed-King]

Found an update on this, seems like it's been pushed back to 2016 for South Africa:

Press release issued by GTC back in July

Global Touring Cars on Track

Exciting developments as GTC gathers momentum

The Global Touring Car series has announced some exciting developments as it confirmed that it will start racing from 2016.

“Launching the Global Touring Car Africa Series has been a labour of love.” GTC Director Mark Woolley said today. “Following our launch and an on-going test program and having now had some time to understand what SA motorsport and the local car industry wants from a premier formula, we are ready move forward and provide South African race fans a with race series they deserve.

We have made some exciting changes and there have been some major developments in the past weeks and we can now confirm the foundation blocks that will ensure that GTC will fly.”

2-Litre Turbo Power Units

A major change is GTC’s decision to switch from V8 to 350kW 2-litre turbo engines in line with recent world motorsport trends and in response to South African carmaker input. “This development may surprise fans most.” Woolley explained, “GTC will not work in SA unless local motor manufacturers are involved, and they need us to use an engine specification that mirrors their global product ranges and meets their international motorsport criteria too.

Currently, around the globe, high capacity engines are being dropped in favour of smaller capacity, high output units and some key manufacturers have suggested that their involvement depends on them being able to use their own power units and we fully respect that. As we did with our initial V8, we are also currently developing a GTC specification 2 litre turbo engine to supply independent teams who may want to run a competitive off-the-shelf power unit.

There have been some concerns that these engines may not produce the noise of a V8 but let me assure you, a 2 litre turbo unit pushing out 350kW can sound spectacular – fans will remember the thrill similar engines produced in a modified series in SA some years ago. Expect these cars to spit flames and make a splendid noise through their turbos. GTC promises to be a globally relevant series, we therefore cannot be left behind by clinging onto what we hope will work.”

2016 Start

As a result of these changes, GTC will start racing at the beginning of 2016. “We are very close to confirming several key manufacturers who will compete in GTC,” Woolley explained. “This means we will have to build more cars than originally anticipated and certainly more than we have capacity to deliver for a 2015 start.

Car builds will start towards the end of the first quarter of 2015, with most teams receiving their machinery towards the end of the third quarter, giving them plenty of time to shake down and develop the cars ahead of a full ten race season in 2016.” Woolley confirmed.


Broadcast package confirmed

“These changes well illustrate how much work has gone into making GTC work. We are really pleased to have negotiated a strong television broadcast package for the series too, the details of which we will confirm shortly.

A number of corporate entities are talking to us about title sponsorship of the series, based on the strength of what GTC has to offer.

We still have a way to go. But rest assured GTC will deliver on its promises with manufacturer backing and title sponsorship just a step away. Soon there will be no looking back.” Woolley concluded.