Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS wrapped up the 2018 season with the Rookie of the Year titles in both Moto2™ and MotoGP™. For 2019 the Spanish-Belgian outfit has been restructured and revitalised in order to fight for the intermediate World Championship that the team won in 2014 with Tito Rabat and in 2017 with Franco Morbidelli, as well as venturing into the brand new MotoE™ category.
Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS team owner, Marc van der Straten, is determined to maintain the team’s position as a reference point within the MotoGP™ paddock and to launch a competitive bid for the two Championships the team is contesting. To this end, various changes have been made to the structure of the team.
In charge of ensuring this challenge for sporting excellence will be new Team Manager Joan Olive. As well as a long career as a professional Grand Prix rider, Olive has an in-depth knowledge of the intricacies and dynamics of the World Championship paddock, having worked as a test rider, rider coach and Team Co-ordinator since hanging up his leathers in 2011.
A third Moto2™ World Championship title is the main target for Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 in 2019. In order to achieve it they will have two Kalex machines, powered by the new Triumph 765cc engine, to be ridden by two top riders in the shape of Alex Marquez and Xavi Vierge. The addition of the number 97 is not the only change to the line-up in the Moto2™ team, with several new technical roles also assumed.
Naoya Kaneko, formerly Chief Mechanic to Alex Marquez, takes up the position of Technical Director, whilst taking his place on the number 73 side of the garage will be David Garcia, telemetry engineer for Dani Pedrosa at Repsol Honda up until 2018. Vierge, meanwhile, will benefit from the experience of respected French crew chief Gilles Bigot, who stays with the team after a year spent leading the MotoGP™ project with Tom Luthi.
Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Racing also takes on the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup in 2019 with Mike Di Meglio as a single-rider entry. The Frenchman, 125cc World Champion in 2008 and a former MotoGP™ rider and recent winner of the FIM EWC Bol d’Or, joins Team Estrella Marc VDS Racing with the clear objective of making history in the first ever season of electric motorcycles.
Marc van der Straten: “We can be proud to have ended 2018 with the Rookie of the Year titles in MotoGP and Moto2 with Franco Morbidelli and Joan Mir. This year we will focus on Moto2 and MotoE and for this new and exciting chapter in the history of Marc VDS Racing we have decided to bring in Joan Olive as Team Manager. As a former rider, Joan knows the demands of racing at this level and I am sure that, with him on board, Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS will be even stronger in 2019.”
Joan Olive: “I am very happy and excited to form part of the Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS family. I am really looking forward to bringing the experience I have gathered over the years to this project and helping the team to further successes. I want to thank Marc Van Der Straten for the confidence he has shown in me to lead this project. We have put together a team that boasts a very strong technical staff and three exceptionally talented riders, who will fight for world titles in Moto2 and MotoE.”