GT3 racing will take place in South Africa next season, with the announcement of the new South African GT3 Challenge. The new championship will consist of seven rounds and will run in tandem with the South African Endurance Championship.

“South Africa has been begging for a proper GT3 series,” SA GT Challenge coordinator Charl Aranges explained. “Now we will have a real championship catering for GT3 racing supercars and run to the same rules as the world’s leading GT3 series, which means that South African teams can invest in a class where they can race the finest cars in the world.”

The South African GT Challenge will comprise of three classes to start with: GT3, Challenge and GT4.

Each meeting will feature two races, a 10 to 12-lap Sprint before a 45-minute to 1-hour Feature, which will include a mandatory pit stop and an optional driver change.

All SA GT3 Challenge races will be live streamed with the class also being the focus of a high-profile media campaign. The SA GT Challenge will form part of the new South African Endurance Championship roadshow, with endurance races running on the same days as the GT rounds.

The South African GT Challenge will commence at Phakisa in the Free State on 25 February, before moving on to Killarney in April and then on to the super-quick East London Grand Prix Circuit end-June.

Those races will be followed by a change of pace as the GT Challenge heads up the coast to the tight and tricky Dezzi Raceway on the KZN Natal South Coast mid-August.

From there it’s back down to Port Elizabeth on in October before winding down at Phakisa in November, with the season closing at Kyalami early in December.