Marc VDS Confirms Exit from Car Racing

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

Marc VDS Racing Team announced Thursday that it will withdraw from car racing for the foreseeable future in order to focus on its motorbike efforts.

The Belgian squad made a similar announcement at the end of 2015 following what it has referred to as the “moral failures of certain managers of the [team]”, but team principal Marc van der Straten later decided to return in 2016 with a three-year Renault Sport Trophy program.

“[It is] an interesting formula in the sense that everyone has the same equipment,” said van der Straten of the Renault series. “It’s up to the drivers and teams to make a difference.”

However, with Renault’s decision to pull out of the series, van der Straten believes the time is right to shut down his car racing efforts for 2017.

“Car racing has long been my great passion. A passion that my father had conveyed to me as he passed on to me many values.

“Unfortunately, I have just been disappointed by what has become car racing. Rules that vary according to the whims of each other, competitions that disappear as quickly as they were created, sponsors who do not keep their engagements, people without morals, profiteers.

“I no longer recognize the spirit and the values that I knew and that I find today in motorcycle sport with the fabulous men who surround me.

“That’s why I decided to put a definitive end to the commitment of the Marc VDS Racing Team in car motorsport to dedicate my activity in the motorcycle world championship. I thank all those who helped us shine on four wheels during these ten years, and I wish them all the best for the future.”

In recent years, Marc VDS won the Total 24 Hours of Spa in 2015, and logged two second-place finishes at the Nürburgring 24. The team also ran a European Le Mans Series GTE program in 2015.

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.