The 2008 FIA GT Season Preview

The familiar battle between Maserati, Aston Martin, and Chevrolet will rage again this year, although with some slightly different faces to the ones who played out 2007's ultra-close affair in which five cars and nine drivers arrived at the season finale with a mathematical chance of winning the championship.

Vitaphone Racing has slimmed its stable of three Maserati MC12s to two, and champion Thomas Biagi has also departed the team. In his absence, team boss Michael Bartels will team up with Andrea Bertolini in the lead car, with GP2 refugee Xandi Negrao joining Miguel Ramos in the second. JMB will field the only other Maserati in the field.

It will be tough for Aston to overcome Bartels and Bertolini, but Jetalliance Racing retains its lead duo of Karl Wendlinger and Ryan Sharp, who came so close last season. The second car is less likely to feature in the title scrap, with Alex Muller and Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer at the wheel.

A second team has joined the Aston ranks in the new British outfit Gigawave Motorsport. Any team boasting Nigel Stepney, Allan Simonsen and Philipp Peter among their resources will be strong and this is a potentially championship-winning line-up.

Gigawave Aston Martin testing at Nogaro

Last year's title could just have easily gone to Phoenix Racing and its Chevrolet Corvettes are back again, also with tweaked line-ups. Mike Hezemans and Jean-Denis Deletraz split up this season, with the former being joined by Fabrizio Gollin and the latter sharing an all-Swiss car with Marcel Fassler.

There'll be a second potentially winning team with Christophe Bouchut and Xavier Maassen joining forces at Selleslagh Racing, which steps up to the C6-R. AT Racing will also run a Corvette, although a C5-R, for Wolfgang Kaufmann and Alexander Talkanitsa.

While the Maserati may still be a nose ahead, both the Aston and the 'Vette are quick enough to make it a genuine three-way fight, so don't be surprised to see five cars go to the finale with title aspirations in 2008 as well.

Saleen hopes to join the party at the front this year with PK Racing switching from Chevrolet for Anthonys Kumpen and Longin. Larbre Competition also takes on an S7R with Vincent Vosse and Gregory Franchi on board, and Team Rbimmo and ARC Bratislav brings the Saleen count to four.

There'll be a single Lamborghini again, with Reiter Engineering retaining Peter Kox and pairing him with Roman Rusinov.

Former F1 driver Esteban Tuero and ex-GP2 front runner Jose Maria Lopez will form Escuderia ACA Argentina and will drive a Ferrari 550.

A pair of Moslers from Go To One, Rock Media Motors' Pagani Zonda, and Bas Leinders and Renaud Kuppens Belgian Racing Team Gillet Vertigo complete the line-ups.

GT2

The Ferrari was the car to have in GT2 last season and that fact is reflected in the numbers for 2008. Nine 430GTs will start the season, facing competition from just three Porsche 911 GT3-RSRs.

CR Scuderia Ferrari 430 testing at Monza

Expect the AF Corse team to lead the way again with two of the strongest pairings around. Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander are moved into the same car this year, with 2007 GT1 team-mates, champion Biagi and race winner Christian Montanari, both preferring the competition in GT2 this season and joining up in AF Corse's second car.

CR Scuderia will also present a stern challenge with Tim Mullen/Chris Niarchos and Andrew Kirkaldy/Rob Bell. The speed and class of the Kirkaldy/Bell pairing is potentially a match even for Biagi/Montanari, and if Niarchos can continue his improvement the team might also be able to cash in on Mullen's outstanding talent.

The remaining Ferraris come from BMS Scuderia Italia (two cars), Scuderia Ecosse (one), and Kessel Racing (one).

Prospeed Competition leads the Porsche attack with Richard Westbrook and Emmanuel Collard easily the pick of the German manufacturer's cars. Prospeed fields Markus Palttala and Mikael Forsten in its second car, while Trackspeed Racing has Richard Williams alongside team boss David Ashburn.

Gigawave Motorsport will also run a GT2 Aston Martin Vantage for Luke Hines and Martin Rich, although the car won't be at Silverstone for this weekend's opening round of the championship.