The Belgian motor racing scene is set to enjoy a new addition to its community with the creation of a brand new structure regrouping several professional racing teams which are joining forces under the “Marc VDS Racing Teams” banner.

Spurred on by long time racing enthusiast Count Marc van der Straten, whose Marc VDS Racing Team entered a Ford GT in this season’s FIA GT series with its beautiful Ford GT, the joint platform comprising four different teams will be headquartered in Gosselies, within a technical industrial park located near Brussels’ South Charleroi Airport. The Marc VDS Racing Team will enter two Ford GTs in the new GT1 World Championship, while Eric De Doncker’s concern will contest the European FIA GT3 Championship with a couple of brand new Ford Mustangs developed together with Multimatic.

Furthermore, a new team dedicated to the new Moto2 World Championship is being set up by former rider Didier de Radigues, while rally driver Stéphane Henrard will spearhead an effort on the rally raid front with his usual buggy racers starting next month at the Dakar. All four groups will race in their respective categories under the “Marc VDS Racing Teams” banner. The endeavor appears original as it unites racing cars and a motorcycle team. With regard to the latter, Didier de Radigues’ new Moto2 team (ex-250cc) will be based around Kawasaki’s former MotoGP entity managed by Michael Bartholemy.

“This is the start of a new adventure,” commented Marc van der Straten. “It all came about after an informal discussion I had one evening with friend and former racer Pascal Witmeur, who informed me about very strong local projects encountering some difficulties because of a lack of infrastructure and resources. In the end, this effort brings together under one common platform the projects initiated by Didier de Radigues, Stéphane Henrard and Eric De Doncker. By adding our energies together and putting everyone in the same dedicated building, we’ve managed to create synergies and gateways between each team while also achieving significant economies of scale. What started as a casual conversation between a few petrolhead individuals has led to an enterprise of shared expertise. I’m happy to be the initiator of such a dynamic project where unity is a strength !”

Taking into account the GT1 and Moto2 world championship, Le Mans Series races for the Ford GTs, the Mustangs’ GT3 program and the Henrard’s efforts on the rally-raid front, the “Marc VDS Racing Team” will be contesting over 100 events in 16 countries in 2010 !