Busy in racing since 1998, Balfe entered last year the FIA GT Series with a Mosler MT900-R, racing in the lowest G2 class. This year he shows with a Saleen S7R in the highest class. Curius to see how fast is this car compared with the very fast Zakspeed Saleen.  Team mate Neil Cunningham did last year 3 rounds with the Embassy Racing Porsche. Jamie Derbyshire was last year already Balfe's team mate on the Mosler.

GLPK Carsport originated as a joint venture with GLPK from Belgium and Carsport Holland. Last year the team won two rounds at the FIA GT Series with a Corvette CR-5. This year they race a 2005 version of the Corvette CR6, having been extremely successful in AMLS and EMLS. The car develops more than 600 bhp for 1100 kg and is very reliable in endurance racing.

Also involved in 2006 DTM racing with two Audis A4, Ernst Moser alligns this year an, Aston Martin DB9 in the FIA GT series. As drivers he'll use Jean-Denis Deletraz and Andrea Piccini, last year racing for Gianpaolo Coppi's G.P.C. Sports, having retired from the series. Dirk Theimann is the race manager of the new team.

The Austrian Team, sponsored by Red Bull (#33) and Hypo (#32) is new in FIA GT Racing. Apart from their two FIA GT1 cars they enter also the #99 Porsche 996 GT3-RSR in FIA GT2 for Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer (A) and Thomas Gruber (A). Team manager is Andreas Hainke. Finishing the rounds they enter is the goal at the first races. Winning will be the goal towards the end of the season. Wendlinger and Peter come from last year's JMB Racing team.

Vitaphone Racing Team continues with its two Maseratis having been already successful last year. Timo Scheider has been replaced as driver by Andrea Bertolini coming from the Maserati Red Bull of JMB Racing. Fabio Babini has been replaced by Jamie Davies. Last year the team won the Spa 24 hours. This year main goal is to win the FIA GT series.  The Astons and the Zakspeed Saleen will be the most direct competitors for the title.

Last year the Saleens of Franz Konrad and R.A.M. racing where absolutely nowhere. This year wizard Peter Zakowski gave the Saleen SR7 a real rebirth. The car is extremely competitive and won already the second round of the FIA GT Series. It dates from 1998 that Zakspeed was involved in FIA GT racing.

Last year the Lambo was entered by Reiter Racing. This year the car is entered by Black Racing of Sabine Stiefel. Holland's Peter Kox remains the test driver. In some rounds he'll find former FIA GT winner Christophe Bouchut at his side. The car will also be entered in ELMS racing and even in the Le Mans 24 hours.

Amato Ferrari showed by the end of 2004 a first time at the FIA GT series, but was absent last year. Now he's back with two excellent Ferraris F430 GTC. First driver is Matteo Bobby, the 2003 FIA GT drivers champion, seen last year only once at the wheel of the Franz Konrad Saleen. Back too is Mika Salo who did in 2004 a half season at the wheel of the G.P.C. Ferrari F575 GTC. Jaime Melo comes also from G.P.C. for who he contested last year 6 rounds.

Ebimotor was last year present with one Porsche RSR for Luigi Moccia and Emanuele Busnelli. They did 9 of the 11 rounds and won once in GT2. This year Enrico Borghi enters a second car for Emmanuel Collard, who last year drove the Gruppe M works Porsche (winning 5 rounds in GT2!). Luca Riccitelli comes back to FIA GT Racing after a three years absence.

Jean Michel Boureche is back this year, but no longer with the two Red Bull Maseratis, but with two competitive Ferraris F430 GTC in GT2. On the first car we find Iradj Alexander, who drove in FIA GT for JMB from 2001 thru 2004, and Tim Sugden, who was last year team mate of Emanuel Collard on the Gruppe M works Porsche. Drivers of the other car are two veterans, who drove earlier FIA GT cars for JMB Racing. 

The Scuderia Ecosse - taking the name of the legendary team which raced the Jaguars in the 1950s - came to racing in 2004. With its Ferraris 360 GTC it won seven rounds of the British GT Championship. Last year the team entered one race of the FIA GT Series. This year the team will be present at all races with two new Ferraris F430 GTC. Racers will be the same of last year.

Last year the G.P.C. team caused a stir by finishing second behind the BMS Scuderia Italia (having moved to LMES racing this year). The team finished also second at the Spa 24 hours. This year two Ferraris 575 GTC will be aligned in the FIA GT series. A third car could enter the LMES. Contrary to last year the Ferrari 360 Modena will no longer be raced in the new GT2. Deletraz and Piccini return to Ferrari now that Jean-Paul Driot (DAMS) decided to stop his Lamborghini project.

This year the German importer of Saleen will enter two cars in the FIA GT, the two having been used last year by Vitaphone Racing (which switched this year to Maserati). If enough sponsoring can be found the cars could also entered some rounds of the LMES. A third car will be raced by Franz Konrad himself at the PROCAR series. With Alzen/Naspetti and the Lechner Bros Konrad has two teams able to beat the Maseratis. Last year his Vitaphone Saleen won three rounds at the FIA GT Series.

Last year Graham Nash Motorsport won three podiums in the LMES. In FIA GT racing the team was less convincing with two eleventh places as best. This year, so confirmed PR mana-ger Andy Woolgar, the team will enter its two Saleens as well in the FIA GT series as in the LMES. Moreover some races of the AMLS will be contested. The team started already in the Sebring 12 hours (but finished as last with 0 laps...). Last but not least Graham Nash will enter also his new Porsche 996GT3-RSR in the GT2 class. Just as last year the British team will use several drivers. Among them Paolo Ruberti (already last year a GNM driver) and the young Joel Cama-thias will be regular drivers of the #7 Saleen S7-R.

Founded in 1988 Larbre Compétition is one of the most successful teams in endurance racing. With Porsche and Viper it won three times the FIA GT Series. With Ferrari it won last year the LMES. This year the team comes back to the FIA GT with two cars prepared by Care Racing Develop-ment. Another car will be a regular entrant at AMLS races. Also at the Le Mans 24 hours Jack Leconte will be present with his cars. For the 2005 season he opted for a reliable car with nothing than top-drivers. Bryner/Calderari won last year the Spa 24 hours. Gardel comes from BMS and won two races in 2004. Lamy won in 1998 the FIA GT2 championship.

Hans Reiter, who reached last year a podium place at the unique race his Lambo entered, has the intention to let race his car at several rounds of the 2005 FIA GT Series. The car misses still top speed but seems among the fastest on tracks with lots of curbs. With Norman Simon as team mate of Peter Kox, Hans Reiter can count on two excellent drivers. It seems that the car will be absent at the Spa 24 hours.

Only one Lister Storm will be active in 2005 FIA GT racing. The car was seen at the Monza Test Days, where it had engine problems, so that Liz Haliday got even not a drive. Last year the works Lister retired at half season. This year it belongs to Laurence Pearce's intentions to do the full season with the Evo version of the Lister Storm.

This year Cirtek Racing is associated with R.A.R. from Russia to let race a Ferrari F550 Maranello. At the Monza Test Days the car was really fast, clocking the second best time, with triple FIA GT Series winner Christophe Bouchut behind the wheel. His two co-drivers, Alexej Vasiliev and Nikolai For-menko raced last year on a Freisinger Yukos Porsche 996 GT3. At the LMES and AMLS Bouchut is a regular driver for Labre Compétition. Bouchut has the strong intention to win the FIA GT Series this year for the fourth time. The Maseratis could be his strongest opponents.

Developed by Fréderic Dor's Prodrive, the Aston Martin DBR9 was THE car FIA GT needed to be a superb attraction. It's probably the best placed car to beat the Maseratis. Unfortu-nately the two Astons will probably be only seen at the Tourist Trophy Anniversary in Silverstone (round #3 of the FIA GT Championship). The car will be raced in the AMLS and at the Le Mans 24 hours. At the Sebring 12 hours Aston Martin already wrote history by finishing fourth overall and winning its class in its very maiden race!

Max Stanco, son of a well-known architect, himself a former ski-sport enthusiast, will race this year Franze Konrad's Saleen, having won several pole positions last year. Co-driver will be Rafal Janus who won last year the GT Champi-onship in Poland. It's not sure that the car will be present at Silverstone and at Spa, since the dates of those rounds collide with dates of rounds of the Polish GT Championship, where Stanco wants to enter the car too.

After a test at Adria Raceway, mid-March.there were rumors on several web sites that the Maserati MC12 of the Italian Racing Box, could be entered at one or more rounds of the FIA GT Championship. Fact is that the car will be raced by Perazzini/Matteuzzi at the Italian GT Championship, but that nothing proves that Andrea Montermini, who tested the car, will have a possibility to race it in the FIA GT Series. It seems rather wishful thinking, since Maserati Corse speaks only of the Racing Box car in the Italian GT Championship.

Jonathan France created Embassy racing at the end of 2003. The team raced a Corvette at the British GT Champi-onship. After a disastrous year they switched to a Porsche GT3-RSR. Looking at their web site one finds a link to "sponsorship". If you expect to find there their partners, you are dreaming. Instead of mentioning their sponsors, they are begging for sponsorship. Really the very last team where one should invest his sponsoring money. This year the team will enter the 3 last rounds of the FIA GT Series.

The Slovak team of Rudolf Machánek, last year only involved in a couple of races of the FIA GT Championship, has the strong intention to enter this year the complete series with two cars. Of all regular entrants of the 2005 FIA GT Series, one of Machánek's cars realised in GT2 the third best time behind the two works cars of Gruppe M, however... 4 seconds slower than the fastest GT2 car.

The Italian Porsche dealer Orlando Redolfi has the intention to let race one of his four racing Porsches at 5 or 6 rounds of the 2005 FIA GT Championship. At the Monza Test Days his GT3-RSR realised the 7th time on 13 GT2 cars, 3 seconds behind the Gruppe M works cars. Last year he entered only the Spa 24 hours, finishing 14th. His other cars will be raced at the Italian GT Championship.