Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Racing Team unveiled its livery for the 2017 season at a launch event in Madrid on Thursday.
For the second year in succession, the Belgian squad will field Jack Miller and Tito Rabat in the premier class on RC213Vs, whilst in Moto2 Franco Morbidelli will once again join forces with Alex Marquez.
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2016 proved to be a special year for the Marc VDS outfit. At the Dutch TT, after an incredible ride in the torrid conditions, Miller became the first satellite race winner in MotoGP since 2006. In Moto2, Morbidelli took his Marc VDS Kalex to the rostrum eight times and ended the year fourth in the championship.
The remainder of Miller’s season was unfortunately curtailed by injury, and he has spent the winter recovering back up to full fitness.
Testing has gone well so far. A new chassis and front forks from Honda, as well as a new engine, has made life easier for the Australian on the RC213V and is happy with the progress the bike has made throughout the pre-season.
“The win last year was great of course, but we also had a lot of injuries and problems,” said Miller.
“Now in pre-season I’ve really focused on my physical preparation to be at 100% at the start of the season. I think I’ve managed that.
“The first two tests have gone well and I just hope to keep feeling better and better on the bike. I’m happy with the evolution of the Honda, which is really happy. My goal is to keep improving and I’m happy to form part of the team.”
Team-mate Rabat hasn’t had the ideal pre-season. A heavy fall at the Sepang test saw him suffer several fractures and a laceration to his knee which forced him to sit out the three days of running at Phillip Island last month.
His maiden MotoGP campaign was a torrid affair, and one that robbed him of all confidence by the end of the year. However, the improvements made by Honda have helped to rectify this and Rabat is feeling happy ahead of the new season despite a lack of track time.
“I’m taking this year in a different way, now I have more experience,” the Spaniard stated.
“I finished last season quite well, we had a good race in Valencia and after we had a positive test. At the start of this year we haven’t been lucky, but I’m really happy with the new chassis. I’m also happy with my new technical team. Now I also have Julian Simon (rider coach) with me.”
Also present at the team’s launch was the Monlau Competicion-backed Estrella Galicia Moto3 outfit, who come into this year with an exciting line-up in double grand prix winner Enea Bastianini and one of 2016’s stand-out rookies Aron Canet.
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