Marc VDS Racing Team

Based in Gosselies, Belgium, Marc VDS began competing in the Belcar series as part of the racing program for the Gillet Vertigo, a Belgian sports car, under the Belgian Racing title. By 2005 the Gillet program expanded to include the international FIA GT Championship, although the team was not allowed to compete for the season championship due to the low production of road legal Vertigos. Despite continued development for several years, the Gillet program ended in 2008 and van der Straten rebranded the team as Marc VDS for the 2009 season. The team however remained involved in the FIA GT Championship at the behest of Jean Michel Delporte and Bas Leinders by becoming one of two development teams for the MatechFord GT, shifting the team to the GT1 category.^[2] Marc VDS also expanded their program through the purchase of a Volkswagen Buggy TDI Rally raid for the 2010 Dakar Rally.

After their year of development in FIA GT, Marc VDS was one of twelve teams granted entry in the inaugural FIA GT1 World Championship in 2010, where they would retain their Ford GT. The 2010 GT1 program also included an entry in the Le Mans Series' 1000 km of Spa as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Shortly after entering FIA GT1, Marc VDS also announced their merger with Michael Bartholemy and Didier de Radiguès' entry in the new Moto2 category of Grand Prix motorcycle racing,^[3] where riders Scott Redding and Héctor Faubel would compete on Suter bikes. Marc VDS also added a fourth program to 2010 by co-developing a Ford Mustang with Multimatic Motorsports of Canada for use in the FIA GT3 European Championship.

In 2013, Marc VDS had a good showing in Moto2, with their riders Scott Redding and Mika Kallio finishing 2nd and 4th in the championship. The team also expanded their motorcycle grand prix programme into the Moto3 category with Kalex-built and KTM-powered machinery with Belgian rider Livio Loi. This expansion proved a challenge, with Loi and Marc VDS barely managing to finish in the points in 4 out of 15 entered races that season. The troubles continued the following season, and despite a good 4th place finish at the third race in Argentina, Livio failed to place better than 19th in the following 6 races. Livio was ultimately replaced mid-season with Spanish rider Jorge Navarro for the remainder of the season. 2014 was, however, the first taste of major success for Marc VDS in the Moto2 class, where their riders Tito Rabat and Mika Kallio finished 1st and 2nd respectively in the rider's championship.

Para 2015, Marc VDS abandonó su exigente programa de Moto3, al tener la oportunidad de competir con una Honda satélite en la categoría reina de MotoGP. El veterano piloto de Marc VDS, Scott Redding, regresó para esta temporada. Redding y Marc VDS tuvieron un comienzo bastante exitoso, terminando consistentemente en posiciones que les permitieron puntuar e incluso logrando un tercer puesto en el podio en San Marino . El equipo finalizó en una respetable octava posición en el campeonato de constructores, muy por delante incluso de algunos equipos que solían alinear a dos pilotos.

En julio de 2015, Bas Leinders anunció que se había separado del equipo. ^{[ 4 ]} En octubre de 2015, Marc van der Straten anunció que el programa de carreras de autos deportivos terminaría al concluir la temporada 2015. Alegó que había perdido la confianza en sus gerentes porque habían asumido un riesgo demasiado grande con su dinero. ^{[ 5 ]} Además, el Grupo SRO Motorsports , organizador de la Blancpain GT Series , introdujo una nueva regulación para las 24 Horas de Spa que establecía que los equipos profesionales debían competir en todas las carreras de la serie para ser elegibles para las 24 Horas. A Van der Straten no le gustó esta decisión, ya que el equipo solo deseaba participar en las 24 Horas de Spa. En consecuencia, el Marc VDS Racing Team decidió concentrarse únicamente en los deportes de motor de dos ruedas.

En 2016, Marc VDS presentó dos motos en la categoría MotoGP , pilotadas por el australiano Jack Miller y su excampeón de Moto2, Tito Rabat . Rabat logró puntuar con regularidad, pero fue Jack Miller quien le dio al equipo Marc VDS su primer éxito en la máxima categoría del motociclismo, al ganar el TT de Assen bajo la lluvia . Esta victoria fue la primera para un equipo no oficial en casi una década, desde el GP de Portugal de 2006 .

2017 fue otro gran año para Marc VDS. En MotoGP, ambos pilotos continuaron en el equipo y, gracias a un rendimiento más constante por parte de ambos, Marc VDS finalizó séptimo en el campeonato de equipos con 117 puntos, su mejor resultado en la categoría hasta la fecha. En Moto2, el piloto Franco Morbidelli logró ocho victorias en dieciocho carreras, asegurando otro campeonato de pilotos para el equipo. El segundo piloto, Álex Márquez, también consiguió tres victorias más, asegurando el cuarto puesto en la clasificación general.

For 2018, Morbidelli was promoted to the MotoGP squad alongside his Moto2 runner-up Thomas Lüthi. Morbidelli was able to consistently finish in the low point-scoring positions, thus being crowned rookie of the year, but Lüthi failed to score a single point that season. The team finished second-to-last in the team's championship in 11th. During the course of the season, team leader Bartholemy left the team by “mutual agreement”, according to a Marc VDS statement, after reports in German media claimed he had been embezzling team funds.^[6] As a result of this upheaval and a desire of the MotoGP commercial rights holder Dorna Sports to reduce grid sizes, Marc VDS was dropped from the MotoGP class at the end of 2018.^[7] In Moto2 the team finished 3rd in the team standings despite not earning a single win in the class, at the end of the season Joan Mir prematurely ended his three year contract with Marc VDS early to move up to the MotoGP class to take over the vacant Suzuki seat.

In 2019, Marc VDS returned to winning ways in Moto2 with Álex Márquez taking 5 wins and 10 podiums en route to the rider's championship. Teammate Xavi Vierge's inconsistent results however relegated the team to just 4th place in the team's championship. The team also joined in the inaugural MotoE season with Mike Di Meglio taking pole, fastest lap, and the win at the Austrian round.

In 2020, the team achieved second place in the Moto2 teams' championship on the backs of riders Sam Lowes' and Augusto Fernández's performances (3 wins, 4 further podiums and 6 further top 5 finishes). It was the team's best result since the teams' championship was counted in Moto2. In MotoE, Di Miglio achieved two podium finishes and ended the season in fourth position overall.

2021 saw Marc VDS and rider Di Meglio elect to leave the MotoE class, citing scheduling conflicts with Di Meglio's Endurance World Championship commitments.^[8] The team continued in Moto2 with Lowes and Fernández, the former sweeping both races of the season-opening double header from pole in Qatar.^[9] With a further win in Emilia-Romagna and two further podium finishes from Lowes and six podium finishes from Fernández, Marc VDS again achieved second place in the teams' championship.

Marc VDS entró en el Campeonato Mundial de Superbikes con el veterano piloto de Moto2 Sam Lowes compitiendo en una Ducati Panigale V4R , a partir de la temporada 2024. ^{[ 10 ]}

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Notes:† – Entry did not finish the race but was classified, as it completed more than 75% of the race distance.