ELF Marc VDS Racing Team (2025)
Team

ELF Marc VDS Racing Team (2025)

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Marc VDS Racing Team is a motorcycle racing team founded by Belgian owner Marc-Oswald van der Straten-Ponthoz. The team competes in motorcycle racing in the Moto2 World Championship under the name ELF Marc VDS Racing Team, and from 2024 in the Superbike World Championship. It has previously competed in the MotoGP and MotoE classes.

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. The Gillet program ended in 2008 and van der Straten rebranded the team as Marc VDS for the 2009 season. The team remained involved in the FIA GT Championship by becoming one of two development teams for the Matech Ford GT, shifting the team to the GT1 category. 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, 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. In 2014, Tito Rabat and Mika Kallio finished 1st and 2nd respectively in the rider's championship in the Moto2 class.

For 2015, Marc VDS dropped their Moto3 programme, as they were presented with the opportunity to run a satellite Honda bike in the premier MotoGP class. Scott Redding returned for this season. In October 2015, Marc van der Straten announced that the sportscar racing programme would end at the conclusion of the 2015 season. The Marc VDS Racing Team decided to concentrate solely on two-wheeled motorsports.

In 2016, Marc VDS fielded two bikes in the MotoGP class, ridden by Australian Jack Miller and their former Moto2 champion Tito Rabat. Jack Miller won a rain-soaked Assen TT. 2017 was another strong year for Marc VDS. In MotoGP, Marc VDS finished 7th in the team's championship. In the Moto2 class, rider Franco Morbidelli achieved 8 wins from 18 rounds, sealing another rider's championship for the team. Second rider Álex Márquez also managed three further wins.

For 2018, Franco Morbidelli was promoted to the MotoGP squad alongside his Moto2 runner-up Thomas Lüthi. Franco Morbidelli was crowned rookie of the year. The team finished second-to-last in the team's championship in 11th. Marc VDS was dropped from the MotoGP class at the end of 2018. In Moto2 the team finished 3rd in the team standings. Joan Mir prematurely ended his three year contract with Marc VDS early to move up to the MotoGP class.

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 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. In MotoE, Mike Di Meglio achieved two podium finishes and ended the season in fourth position overall.

2021 saw Marc VDS and rider Mike Di Meglio elect to leave the MotoE class. The team continued in Moto2 with Sam Lowes and Augusto Fernández, the former sweeping both races of the season-opening double header from pole in Qatar. Marc VDS again achieved second place in the teams' championship.

Marc VDS entered the Superbike World Championship with long-time Moto2 rider Sam Lowes racing on a Ducati Panigale V4R, beginning from the 2024 season.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.

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