Urmo Aava - Citroen

Team: Citroen Total World Rally Team
Last year's runner-up in the junior series makes the gigantic leap into the top-tier by bagging a drive in the coveted Citroen C4. The 28-year-old Estonian will take his place alongside Loeb and Sordo for 10 of the 15 WRC rounds, starting in Sweden.

The last-minute promotion was helped in part by sponsorship from Estonian businesses, money that enables Aava to wave goodbye to his old Suzuki Swift and challenge the big boys.

Khalid Al Qassimi - Ford

Team: BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
Al Qassimi brings a welcome dollop of sponsorship money from his Abu Dhabi patrons, and in return gets to drive a factory Focus for 10 rounds in 2008.

But it's all not all cash-driven – the 31 year old is a competent and experienced rally driver in his own right, winning a brace of local Middle Eastern championships before making his debut in WRC in 2004 at the wheel of a production-class Impreza.

Per-Gunnar Andersson - Suzuki

Team: Suzuki World Rally Team
It's promotion to the big-league for 'PG', as his old Junior WRC team also makes the leap to a fully fledged WRC outfit.

The 27-year-old Swede won his second JWRC title last year in a Suzuki, and this is his reward. He's not had a lot of time to get to grips with the top-tier turbos and four-wheel-drive and could struggle along with the rest of the team in the opening rallies, but don't bank on him staying green for long.

Chris Atkinson - Subaru

Team: Subaru World Rally Team
Atkinson is another Subaru loyalist, having been plucked from the small pond of Australian rallying in 2005 to drive for the factory team.

No wins yet, but the 28-year-old is past the learning curve stage and is hungry for a bigger slice of the action. He won't get it until later in the season when Subaru launch their new car, but if it's fast right out of the box, it'll give the Aussie a great chance of finishing higher than his 2007 result of seventh.

Luis Perez Companc - Ford

Team: Munchi's Ford World Rally Team
The Argentine businessman and rally driver founded the Munchi's team in 2007, but takes more of a back seat this year, only driving in Argentina, Jordan and Finland.

Finished a magnificent fifth in Japan last year, but once again the M-sport managed Focus will be two seasons behind Hirvonen's A-spec car.

Francois Duval - Ford

Team: Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team
Yep, a famous Belgian (in rallying circles anyway). Francois Duval has been signed up by Ford Stobart to bag them points on the Monte Carlo rally, the team milking the 27-year-old's phenomenal abilities to go quick on tarmac.

A former competitive quad-biker, Duval got his WRC break with Mitsubishi in 2001 before moving to Ford and then Citroen, with whom he scored his first and only win in 2005. Despite his obvious speed, he's failed to land a full team season since.

Gianluigi 'Gigi' Galli - Ford

Team: Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team
The supercharged Italian is back where he belongs – signed up to a competitive team for a full season. Starring alongside Matthew Wilson and Henning Solberg in the Ford B-team, Galli can now relax into his flamboyant driving style and plot more loopy entertainment for his fans.

The 35-year-old was crowned Italian Rally Champion twice before securing a works seat with Mitsubishi back in 2005. He has since bumped around between various privateer teams, but his raw talent made the most of it. Here he has got a shot at his first ever win.

Toni Gardemeister - Suzuki

Team: Suzuki World Rally Team
A smart signing for the young Suzuki team – Gardemeister is the most experienced driver in the field by a long chalk.

Come Mexico, the 32-year-old Finn will have started 100 WRC rallies, having driven works cars for Seat, Skoda and Ford in the 10 years he's been at the highest level. Best year was 2005 in the Focus, when he scored two seconds on his way to finishing fourth in the drivers’ champion. Never won a rally though, and he'll struggle to change that in a box-fresh car like this. Won't be for want of trying though.

Mikko Hirvonen - Ford

Team: BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
Hirvonen has the prime runway slot, courtesy of his promotion to lead driver at Ford. He wouldn't be there had Marcus Gronholm not bowed out early, but his dominant win in WRC's 2007 finale in Wales showed just how much this 27-year-old deserves his place.

Can he beat Loeb, is the question? Answer: yes on rallies such as Sweden, Finland, Greece and Japan – he's mega on snow and gravel. On tarmac, Loeb should reel him back, but if Hirvonen doesn't fall too far behind the Frenchman, the 2008 drivers' title is genuinely achievable.

Jari-Matti Latvala - Ford

Team: BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
The youngest works driver on this season's teamsheets, the 22-year-old Finn is mini-me to teammate and fellow countryman Mikko Hirvonen. The two battled it out for first over much of last year's final rally in Wales, a feat all the more impressive considering Latvala's Stobart-liveried car was a year older than Hirvonen's works Focus.

Now promoted to full works driver, the Finn was first offered a Ford seat back in 2003 when he was just 18. That single rally became four in 2006, and finally a full season in 2007. Watching Latvala now, you won't for a second equate youth with inexperience or immaturity.

Sebastien Loeb - Citroen

Team: Citroen Total World Rally Team
It may be a fruitless task looking for signs of weakness in the world's most successful rally driver (he overtook Carlos Sainz in 2006), but maybe, just maybe the retirement of his mentor at Citroen, Guy Frequelin, will destabilise the Frenchman in 2008. Long shot, though.

Loeb scored his first victory soon after debuting in 2002, then almost clinched the drivers’ title in 2003. Since then he hasn't lost one, even becoming champion in 2006 despite watching the last four rallies on TV recuperating with a broken arm. Gronholm nearly halted the run last year, but the Schumacher of rallying did just enough to stay champion. In a brand new car, too.

Henning Solberg - Ford

Team: Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team
Eclipsed by younger brother Petter Solberg, Henning is working to put that straight. Sixth place last year in Ford's B-string Focus was just one behind his brother, impressive given that Petter drives a fully factory-backed Impreza.

Henning was also highest placed of all the Stobart-liveried Fords, beating the now-promoted Jari-Matti Latvala and Britain’s Matthew Wilson in the process. On the strength of that his Ford seat is secure in WRC, a career that started with one-off drives in, among others, a Ford Escort WRC back in 1998. As charismatic as his sibling, the 35-year-old Norwegian is a firm favourite with rally fans.

Petter Solberg - Subaru

Team: Subaru World Rally Team
The charismatic Norwegian returns for another stab at wrenching back the championship title he won in 2003. A run of bad luck has prevented the 33-year-old from winning a rally since 2005, but the launch of the new Impreza later in the season could be just the charm he needs.

In this game now since 1999, Solberg first drove for Ford before succumbing to the lure of the blue-and-gold machine a year later. Co-driver, Welshman Phil Mills, is brave to want to sit next to Solberg, who’s fearlessly fast, always entertaining and long overdue for a comeback.

Dani Sordo - Citroen

Team: Citroen Total World Rally Team
A second year in the highly prized Citroen seat for the young Spaniard. Eclipsed last year by Loeb (who wouldn't be?), finishing with around half his teammate’s points, the 24-year-old nonetheless showed flashes of genius, especially on tarmac.

Sordo is mentored by ex rally champion and fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz, to the extent his old co-driver now sits next to Sordo in the Citroen C4. Proof that the junior international series showcases young talent, Sordo won the JWRC in 2005 at the wheel of a Citroen C2. Should win his first WRC rally this year. If he doesn't, questions will be raised.

Federico Villagra - Ford

Team: Munchi's Ford World Rally Team
A legend in his native Argentina, Federico Villagra finally strikes out for global glory at the wheel of the Ford customer team for 2008.

The former Argentine and South American champion has packed a lot into his 38 years, but there's plenty of learning still to do over unfamiliar courses.

Matthew Wilson - Ford

Team: Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team
Youthful in the extreme to be carrying Britain's rally hopes, Wilson is just 21 in January. Didn't stop him from becoming the youngest driver to score points in the WRC last year however, grabbing eighth place in Argentina. Even steered his Focus to a stage win there as well.

He's been given a hefty leg-up from dad Malcolm Wilson, Ford’s rally boss and overseer of Matthew's Stobart-sponsored team, but the youngster is here entirely on his own merits, as anyone who saw him power to sixth in last year's grimly damp Wales Rally GB will testify.

Matthew Wilson interview