Eric van de Poele

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1992, 1994, 1996 – 1998, 2000 – 2002, 2008 – 2010
Teams	Clayton Cunninghman Racing, Racing for Belgium/Team Scandia, Nissan Motorsports/TWR, Doyle-Risi Racing, Team Cadillac, Team Bentley, Krohn Racing
Best finish	3rd (2001)
Class wins	3 (1998, 2001, 2002)

Eric van de Poele
Born	30 September 1961 (age 62); Verviers, Liège, Belgium
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Belgian
Active years	1991 – 1992
Teams	Modena, Brabham, Fondmetal
Entries	29 (5 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1991 United States Grand Prix
Last entry	1992 Italian Grand Prix

Eric Francis Edouard Ghislain Thérèse van de Poele^[1] (French pronunciation: [e.ʁik vɑn də pwal, -pwɛl]; born 30 September 1961) is a Belgian racing driver and former Formula One driver. He participated in 29 Grands Prix, in 1991 and 1992. He is a three-times class winner at 24 Hours of Le Mans, and won three Formula 3000 races in 1990. Before his Formula One career, he won the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft.

Driving career

After a difficult 1984 season in French Formula Three, van de Poele then won the Belgian and Benelux Formula Ford titles, also racing in the Belgian Touring Car Championship.^[2] He subsequently raced in German Touring Cars Championships, winning the 1987 championship despite not winning a race all season.^[3] He also won the 1987 Spa 24 Hours, sharing a car with Didier Theys and Jean-Michel Martin.^[3] He also dabbled in British Formula 3. For 1989, he moved up to Formula 3000, finishing fourth, and then runner-up in 1990.

After this, he signed for the Modena Formula One team for 1991, driving their Lamborghini cars thanks to backing from long-time sponsors LeasePlan. He qualified onto the grid at his third attempt, for the 1991 San Marino Grand Prix. There he impressed in the rain, running fifth in the last lap before the car ran out of fuel, dropping him to ninth. The team, in financial difficulties, was unable to build on this success, and van de Poele would not race again that year.

He then signed for Brabham in 1992, but the team were low on money. He qualified for the opening South African Grand Prix, finishing 13th, but did not manage to qualify the outdated car again. He frequently matched team-mate Damon Hill in the other Brabham, however. For the Hungarian Grand Prix he switched to the promising Fondmetal team. He qualified the car at the first attempt, only to spin out. He then started an excellent 15th for the Belgian Grand Prix, finishing 10th, and qualified again for the Italian Grand Prix, only for the clutch to break. After this, Fondmetal also hit money troubles and withdrew, leaving van de Poele without a drive.

Aside from a largely unused capacity as test driver for Tyrrell in 1993, van de Poele has since found considerable success in Touring Cars and sports cars, winning the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1995 and 1996 and the Petit Le Mans in 1998. He has also added to his 1987 win in the Spa 24 Hours with four more wins in 1998, 2005, 2006 and 2008, giving him the record of five wins in the event.^[4] In 2008, van de Poele competed in the Rolex Sports Car Series.

Racing record

Complete German Formula Three results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Engine	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Pts	Ref
1987	Hartge Motorsport	VW	A	NÜR 12	AVU DNS	ZOL 8	HOC 6	ÖST	SIE	NÜR 5	NÜR 14	ZOL 3	11th	29	^[5]^[6]

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Pos.	Pts
1987	Zakspeed BMW Team	BMW M3	HOC 2	ZOL 10	NÜR 4	AVU 4	MFA 8	NOR 6	NÜR 8	WUN 3	DIE 2	SAL 10															1st	127
1988	BMW M Team Linder	BMW M3 Evo	ZOL 1	ZOL 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	BRN 1	BRN 2	AVU 1	AVU 2	MFA 1	MFA 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	NOR 1	NOR 2	WUN 1	WUN 2	SAL 1	SAL 2	HUN 1	HUN 2	HOC 1 6	HOC 2 Ret	34th	13
1989	BMW Faltz Essen	BMW M3 Evo	ZOL 1	ZOL 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	MFA 1	MFA 2	AVU 1	AVU 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	NOR 1 15	NOR 2 DNS	HOC 1	HOC 2	DIE 1	DIE 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	HOC 1	HOC 2			39th	4
1990	BMW M Team Schnitzer	BMW M3 Sport Evo	ZOL 1	ZOL 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	AVU 1	AVU 2	MFA 1	MFA 2	WUN 1	WUN 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	NOR 1	NOR 2	DIE 1	DIE 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	HOC 1 15	HOC 2 10			32nd	1
Source:^[7]^[8]^[9]

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos.	Pts
1989	Players/GA Motorsports/Colt Racing	Lola T89/50	Cosworth	SIL 6	VAL 3	PAU Ret	JER 4	PER Ret	BRH Ret	BIR 14	SPA 4	BUG 2	DIJ 5		5th	19
1990	GA Motorsport	Reynard 90D	Cosworth	DON 6	SIL 5	PAU 1	JER 9	MNZ 9	PER Ret	HOC Ret	BRH Ret	BIR 1	BUG 10	NOG 1	2nd	30
Source:^[7]^[8]

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Pts
1991	Modena Team SpA	Lambo 291	Lamborghini 3512 3.5 V12	USA DNPQ	BRA DNPQ	SMR 9†	MON DNPQ	CAN DNPQ	MEX DNPQ	FRA DNPQ	GBR DNPQ	GER DNQ	HUN DNQ	BEL DNQ	ITA DNQ	POR DNQ	ESP DNQ	JPN DNQ	AUS DNQ	NC	0
1992	Motor Racing Developments	Brabham BT60B	Judd GV 3.5 V10	RSA 13	MEX DNQ	BRA DNQ	ESP DNQ	SMR DNQ	MON DNQ	CAN DNQ	FRA DNQ	GBR DNQ	GER DNQ							NC	0
1992	Fondmetal	Fondmetal GR02	Ford HBA5 3.5 V8											HUN Ret	BEL 10	ITA Ret	POR	JPN	AUS	NC	0
Source:^[7]^[8]^[10]

† Driver did not finish the race, but were still classified as they completed 90% of the race distance.

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Pos.	Pts
1994	Old Spice Nissan Racing	Nissan Primera eGT	THR 1 13	BRH 1 DNS	BRH 2 DNS	SNE 1 9	SIL 1 13	SIL 2 12	OUL 1 14	DON 1 17	DON 2 13	BRH 1 14	BRH 2 12	SIL 1 DNS	KNO 1	KNO 2	OUL 1	BRH 1	BRH 2	SIL 1	SIL 2	DON 1	DON 2	22nd	2
Sources:^[8]^[9]^[11]

Complete Spanish Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	DC	Pts
1995	Team Repsol Nissan	Nissan Primera	JER 1 3	JER 2 Ret	JAR 1 2	JAR 2 8	BAR 1 2	BAR 2 1	EST 1 4	EST 2 2	ALB 1 Ret	ALB 2 5	CAL 1 1	CAL 2 4	ALB 1 3	ALB 2 10	JER 1 4	JER 2 4	BAR 1 1	BAR 2 1	JAR 1	JAR 2	3rd	204
1996	Team Repsol Nissan	Nissan Primera	JAR 1 5	JAR 2 1	ALB 1 4	ALB 2 2	BAR 1 4	BAR 2 Ret	EST 1 9	EST 2 7	CAL 1 4	CAL 2 8	JER 1 3	JER 2 2	JAR 1 Ret	JAR 2 8	BAR 1 7	BAR 2 1					5th	139
Source:^[11]

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1992	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Karl Wendlinger Alain Ferté	Peugeot 905 Evo 1B	C1	208	DNF	DNF
1994	Clayton Cunningham Racing	Paul Gentilozzi Shunji Kasuya	Nissan 300ZX Turbo	IMSA GTS	25	DNF	DNF
1995	Courage Compétition	Olivier Beretta Matiaz Tomlje	Courage C41-Chevrolet	WSC	-	DNQ	DNQ
1996	Racing for Belgium Team Scandia	Marc Goossens Éric Bachelart	Ferrari 333 SP	WSC	208	DNF	DNF
1997	Nissan Motorsport TWR	Riccardo Patrese Aguri Suzuki	Nissan R390 GT1	GT1	121	DNF	DNF
1998	Doyle-Risi Racing	Wayne Taylor Fermín Vélez	Ferrari 333 SP	LMP1	332	8th	1st
1999	Nissan Motorsport	Masami Kageyama Aguri Suzuki	Nissan R391	LMP	-	DNS	DNS
2000	Team Cadillac	Wayne Taylor Max Angelelli	Cadillac Northstar LMP	LMP900	287	22nd	12th
2001	Team Bentley	Andy Wallace Butch Leitzinger	Bentley EXP Speed 8	LMGTP	306	3rd	1st
2002	Team Bentley	Andy Wallace Butch Leitzinger	Bentley EXP Speed 8	LMGTP	362	4th	1st
2008	Risi Competizione Krohn Racing	Tracy Krohn Niclas Jönsson	Ferrari F430 GT2	GT2	12	DNF	DNF
2009	Risi Competizione Krohn Racing	Tracy Krohn Niclas Jönsson	Ferrari F430 GT2	GT2	323	22nd	3rd
2010	Risi Competizione Krohn Racing	Tracy Krohn Niclas Jönsson	Ferrari F430 GT2	GT2	197	DNF	DNF
Source:^[12]^[13]

Complete Grand Prix Masters results

(key) Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap.

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5
2006	Team Golden Palace	Delta Motorsport GPM	Nicholson McLaren 3.5 V8	QAT 3	ITA C	GBR 2	MAL C	RSA C
Source:^[7]

References

^ "Pilote des 24 heures du Mans : Eric Francis Edouard Ghislain Thérèse van de Poele". www.24h-en-piste.com (in French). Retrieved 15 June 2023.
^ "Eric van de Poele: Career summary". F1 Rejects. 29 April 2007. Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
^ ^a ^b "Eric van de Poele: Full biography". F1 Rejects. 29 April 2007. Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
^ Cotton, Andrew (4 August 2008). "Eric Van de Poele makes it a record breaking fifth victory". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
^ "Starterliste 1987 Deutsche Rennwagen-Meisterschaft Formel 3" [Starter List 1987 German Racing Car Championship Formula 3] (PDF) (in German). Formel 3 Guide. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
^ "Punkteindex 1987 Deutsche Rennwagen-Meisterschaft Formel 3" [Points Index 1987 German Racing Car Championship Formula 3] (PDF) (in German). Formel 3 Guide. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Eric van de Poele". Motor Sport. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Eric van de Poele Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Eric Van De Poele race results". TouringCars.net. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
^ Small, Steve (2000). "Van De Poele, Eric". Grand Prix Who's Who (Third ed.). Reading, Berkshire: Travel Publishing. p. 580. ISBN 978-1-902007-46-5. Retrieved 12 January 2024 – via Internet Archive.
^ ^a ^b "Eric van de Poele". Super Touring Register. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
^ "All Results of Eric van de Poele". racingsportscars.com. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
^ "Eric van de Poele". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Retrieved 12 January 2024.