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.