VOL. 55 ISSUE 20 MAY 22, 2018 P49
THE SAGA OF MARC VDS
C
ontroversial Team Marc VDS
MotoGP boss Michael Bar-
tholemy—accused of corruption
and embezzlement a fortnight
ago at Jerez—was defiantly pres-
ent at the French GP, heading
the MotoGP and Moto2 squads
at Le Mans, at the same time as
further press reports had already
announced his replacement.
But his time at the track lasted
only the first day. Following a
pre-race statement (surprisingly
on the team's official letterhead)
that team owner, Belgian brewing
billionaire Marc van der Straten,
had not terminated his contract, a
fresh privately issued statement on
Saturday announced the opposite.
His contract had been termi-
nated, he said, and he had decid-
ed "to step back from the team
for the duration of the French
Grand Prix… rather than exercise
my right to halt racing activities."
Meanwhile, the German-lan-
guage website Speedweek.com,
which broke the original story,
reported that former JiR team
owner Luca Montiron had already
reached agreement with van der
Straten to replace Bartholemy, to
take over the team forthwith.
Montiron arrived at Le Mans on
Friday with van der Straten in his
private jet.
Bartholemy's first statement
said that "allegations of financial
impropriety" had not been made
formally, but only in the press,
while his own "repeated requests
through my legal representatives
for evidence" had received no
response from van der Straten,
for whom the double Moto2 title-
winning squad is something of a
hobby.
Van der Straten, the statement
continued, had made no confir-
mation of termination of contract,
while a meeting earlier arranged
by van der Straten on May 14 was
canceled without explanation or
rescheduling.
His new statement again
denied any wrong-doing, and
claimed the moral high ground in
the dispute, while confirming that
van der Straten's lawyers had
notified him that his contract was
terminated with immediate effect
on May 15.
The allegations, he said, had
mentioned "various amounts,
ranging from 10 million to 15
million euros. At the end were
only required to explain invoices
totaling less than 24,000 euros,
which we did immediately, provid-
ing full details of each payment."
As a result, there were no legal
grounds for termination, he said,
but he remained "open to finding
an agreement that would allow us
to end the collaboration between
us amicably." All his suggestions,
however, had been rejected.
If this is confusing, so too are
other details. Van der Straten,
along with a few sponsors, has
provided the finance. But Mo-
toGP riders Franco Morbidelli
and Tom Luthi and Moto2 rid-
ers Alex Marquez and Joan Mir,
along with team staff, are con-
tracted to Bartholemy's Swiss-
registered company.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
Marc VDS Team boss Michael
Bartholemy has been told his
contract with the team has
been terminated.
