Biking Legends: Marc van der Straten

The team boss who has overseen great victories and title success on both two and four wheels

Marc van der Straten

Belgian, Marc VDS Racing Team Owner

Following in his father’s footsteps, Marc has overseen success on four and two wheels with the Marc VDS Racing team. As its leader, Marc has watched his team win three Moto2 titles plus a MotoGP race victory with Jack Miller in 2016.

Marc VDS are one of the most successful teams on the Moto2 grid and have also sprayed the champagne in MotoGP. Owned by Marc van der Straten, the team are the successor to the four-wheeled Racing Team VDS, run by Marc’s late father, Rudi. A former racer himself, Rudi’s team contested single-seater, GT and Touring Car championships at events across Europe and the US in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, including the Indianapolis 500, 24 Hours of Spa (in Mini Coopers), Le Mans 24-Hour, Formula 5000, Can-Am – winning the 1981 title with Geoff Brabham – and CART/IndyCar.

Marc learned alongside his father in the workshops, fettling the engines of landmark race cars such as the Lola T70 MK3B and Alfa Romeo GTA and TZ2. Over the years, Team VDS raced multiple McLarens and Chevrolet.

“He was very famous, a reference, especially with the cars he made with McLaren,” Marc recalls when discussing his father. “I was responsible for the cylinder heads on the Alfa and Lola, and I was learning all the time as part of our family tradition. My passion for being involved with the engines and motorsport was there.”

The Van der Straten family is a famous one back home in Belgium. Alongside their racing exploits, Rudi and Marc are descendants of the creators of Stella Artois in the 14th Century.

Marc relaunched the car racing team in 2001 in the FIA GT Championship, going on to secure the 2013 GT1 teams’ title with BMW, plus second at the Nürburgring 24-Hour in 2013 and 2015.

The MarcVDS team’s Moto2 debut came in 2010 with Scott Redding and Hector Faubel. In 2013, Redding finished second in the championship, with teammate Mika Kallio in fourth.

Things continued to head in the right direction the following season with the team dominating to take the title with Tito Rabat and the runner-up spot with Mika Kallio. This title success was the first of three to date, with current MotoGP stars Franco Morbidelli (2017) and Alex Marquez (2019) also claiming the Moto2 crown.

Not content with conquering Moto2, Marc VDS entered MotoGP as a satellite Honda squad with Redding in 2015. The Brit consistently finished inside the points and was third at Misano, with the team expanding to a two-man effort with Jack Miller and Rabat the following year.

It was that season when dreams came true as Miller conquered treacherous conditions at Assen to win the Dutch TT. In doing so, Marc VDS became the first non-factory team to win since Toni Elias’ victory for Gresini at Estoril in 2006.

“That moment was completely amazing, not just because of the win, but how he did it. It was said that Jack walked on water that day.”

‘To me, we are four-time champions’

Marc VDS spent another two years in MotoGP before focusing on Moto2 from 2019. So, would Van der Straten consider a return?

“There’s too much instability these days. I’m very pleased and proud to have been there but I prefer to keep things simple and try to help riders grow in Moto2. Plus, we now have Superbike.”

Indeed, helping riders to develop and improve is just as, if not more, important to the team owner as winning world titles.

“It’s very important for the riders to feel completely comfortable in all senses because it’s impossible to ask a rider to race 21 laps, or even train whilst worrying about things. He must be focused and calm, and able to see that he’ll be supported in everything he does.”

This gives a glimpse into Van der Straten’s managerial philosophy, and how he approaches his riders and crew. It’s clearly working for the three-time world champions, a team which continue to challenge at the front of the Moto2 class.

Sam Lowes finished as runner-up in 2020 with injuries hampering any chance of a fourth title. “To me, we are four-time champions,” Van der Straten says. “Sam didn’t ride in Doha, remember.”

Tony Arbolino also finished second overall last season, losing out to the man tipped as the next Marc Marquez, Pedro Acosta.

This year the team expands further into the World Superbike Championship, with Lowes on a Ducati V4 R. In Moto2, Arbolino remains alongside Filip Salac.

E LOWES CONNECTION

‘Wonderful man. The VDS spirit’

Sam Lowes and Marc VDS have enjoyed a strong and successful relationship since 2020. It was the Brit’s decision to move to the team which helped take him to another level in the intermediate class, and, almost, the 2020 title.

At Van der Straten’s team, Lowes has won seven races and claimed a total of 15 podiums, with standout moments being the hat-trick of victories at Le Mans and Aragon in 2020, plus the Qatar double at the start of 2021.

The partnership now moves into WSBK with Van der Straten stating that it would have been: “Taboo on our part not to choose him given everything we’ve already done together. We’re going there with a great product [Ducati], a great rider and we’re absolutely talking about winning.

“He’s a wonderful man. He is the real demonstration of the VDS spirit, somebody who loves this team. People talk about his crashes, but what they don’t want to look at is that today Moto2 has become more and more competitive and cutting edge.

“For me, by creating a situation where the rider has a good combination with the bike and people, you reach the point where you can achieve results.”

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