Eric
Van de Poele

Eric van de Poele was born in Verviers in 1961. He won the Belgian and Benelux Formula Ford titles and also raced touring cars. In 1987 he took the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft without winning a single race that season, and he also won the Spa 24 Hours that year. In Formula 3000 he finished fourth in 1989 and was runner-up in 1990, with three race wins.

He drove for Modena in 1991. At the San Marino Grand Prix, where he qualified at his third attempt, he ran fifth on the final lap in the rain before the car ran out of fuel, and he was classified ninth. Of his 16 entries that year, it was his only start. In 1992 he joined Brabham and finished 13th in the opening race in South Africa, but did not qualify the car again. From the Hungarian Grand Prix he drove for Fondmetal, retiring after a spin on his debut for the team. In Belgium he started 15th and finished tenth, and at Monza a clutch failure ended his race. He was then left without a drive. In total he made 5 starts from 29 entries. In 1993 he was a test driver for Tyrrell.

In sports cars he won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1995 and 1996 and the Petit Le Mans in 1998. At Spa he added wins in 1998, 2005, 2006 and 2008 to his 1987 victory. He also won his class at Le Mans three times, and in 2008 he raced in the Rolex Sports Car Series.

Source: Wikipedia, “Eric van de Poele”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.