Marc VDS’s Moto2 team at a crossroads: will the Superbike World Championship take precedence?

The loss of Marc van der Straten leaves a huge void in motor racing, raising all sorts of questions about the future of his World Championship teams. The Belgian passed away on 5 July in his adopted home of Switzerland at the age of 78.

Van der Straten supported motor racing for decades like few others and spent hundreds of millions on his hobby. He was a member of the Artois dynasty, which made a fortune brewing and selling beer. As SPEEDWEEK.com discovered, the enthusiast had also made provisions for after his death and set up a trust fund to preserve his legacy. Such trust funds serve to ensure that assets are passed on to beneficiaries in accordance with the owner’s wishes and under pre-determined conditions.

In the world of sports cars, Marc VDS was involved in various series, whilst in motorbike racing his name became well known through his involvement in the MotoGP paddock. His Moto2 team won the World Championship title in 2014, 2017 and 2019 with Tito Rabat, Franco Morbidelli and Alex Márquez. From 2015 to 2018, the team was also represented in MotoGP; Jack Miller secured their only victory in the premier class in 2016, riding a Honda in the rain at Assen.

This year, Spaniard Aron Canet and Turkish rider Deniz Öncü are racing for Marc VDS in the middleweight class, but have so far failed to make headlines with the Boscoscuro chassis and have each managed just one top-10 finish. In the overall standings, they sit in disappointing 22nd and 19th places going into the summer break.

Which of the two teams will survive?

Given the large sums van der Straten has spent on motor racing each year, insiders speak of 7 to 8 million euros for all projects on two and four wheels, the reserves in his trust fund for his teams in the Moto2 and Superbike World Championships (since 2024) are finite. The teams will have to find further wealthy sponsors to boost their budgets.

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It is becoming apparent that team manager Marina Rossi, Sam Lowes’ wife, will have to decide whether the Marc VDS team will compete in the Moto2 or Superbike World Championships in future – both series will be almost impossible to sustain in the long term.

The problem is that Moto2 rider Aron Canet has a contract with the team until the end of 2028; reportedly, the decision rests with him as to whether he wishes to remain in the middleweight category of Grand Prix racing or switch to Superbike. It is not known whether his contract also provides for the possibility that the Moto2 team might be shut down.