The motorsport maestro, who has overseen victories and titles on two and four wheels, becomes Panis Racing’s main partner with Boutsen VDS.

Founded by Marc van der Straten, the Marc VDS team has a long history of success in motorsport. It continues the tradition of the Racing Team VDS, once run by Marc's late father Rudi.

A former racing driver, Rudi's team contested single-seater, GT and touring car championships at events across Europe and the United States in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s. It distinguished itself in such legendary races as the Indianapolis 500, 24 Hours of Spa (in Mini Cooper), the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Formula 5000, Can-Am (winning the title in 1981), and CART/IndyCar.

Marc learned alongside his father in the workshops, repairing the engines of iconic racing cars such as the Lola T70 MK3B, the Alfa Romeo GTA and TZ2. Over the years, the VDS team has raced multiple McLaren and Chevrolet. ‘My passion for engines and motorsports was innate.’

 In 2001, Marc relaunched the car racing team in the FIA GT championship. He won the GT1 team title in 2013 with BMW and finished second at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in 2013 and 2015.

The Marc VDS team made its Moto2 debut in 2010 and in 2014 the team won its first world championship with Tito Rabat. Franco Morbidelli in 2017 and Alex Marquez in 2019 completed the Marc VDS Racing Team's triple crown in Moto2.

Not content with dominating the intermediate category, in 2015 Marc VDS made its MotoGP debut as Honda's private team. Just one year later, the dream became a reality, with Miller winning the Dutch TT at Assen, making Marc VDS the first non-factory team to take a win since 2006. Marc VDS continues in MotoGP for two years before refocusing on Moto2 from 2019.

Marc VDS is committed to helping riders develop and improve: for him this is just as important, if not more so, than winning world titles. This management philosophy offers an insight into the way he approaches his riders and his team, an approach that has clearly paid off with three Moto2 World Championship titles. World runner-up in 2023, the adventure continues in 2024 in Moto2 and a new challenge has begun with the creation of a private team in World SBK in partnership with Ducati and with Sam Lowes as rider.

Meanwhile, in 2022 the Lainé-Boutsen family and Marc VDS decided to join forces and created the Boutsen VDS team. The team competes in the Fanatec GT World Challenge and Lamborghini Super Trofeo championships.

This season, thanks to their friendship with former F1 driver Olivier Panis, Marc and Boutsen VDS have joined him in LMP2 in the ELMS and in LMP2 Pro-am at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Panis Racing Oreca 07 #65 is now decorated with the magnificent Feline logo.

‘I am delighted to be back in motorsport with Boutsen VDS in GT, but to be competing in this year's Le Mans 24 hours with my friend Olivier Panis and his team is an immeasurable pleasure! It's not just a long friendship that unites us, it's also our values, our passion, our way of working and our pursuit of our goals. To be able to bring the strength and tenacity of the VDS Feline to the fabulous challenge of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is a source of immense pride for me.’