Masters Degree: Eric van de Poele

Eric van de Poele describes the week beginning 22 April 1991 as the perfect week.

He recalls those seven days as the most amazing of his life, describing them with a warm brimming smile that makes you wonder what could have happened in such a short space of time that made it so memorable.

Well, to start with, his daughter was born on the Tuesday of that week. So, admittedly, it's a good start.

He then got through San Marino Grand Prix pre-qualifying on Friday morning for the first time to be allowed to qualify for his maiden F1 race. Hmm, also quite reasonable.

He then got through qualifying on Saturday and actually made the race, qualifying 21st. Still a pretty good week, then.

On Sunday, however, having worked his way up to fifth by the last lap in an absolute pig of a car, he ran out of fuel and lost what transpired to be the only shot he ever had at scoring world championship points and a springboard to, well, who knows.

Nearly everyone else would class that week, then, as pretty bittersweet, but Eric van de Poele is a glass-is-half-full kind of guy.

"It was a perfect week," says the Belgian. "My girl arrived on the Tuesday, I pre-qualify, then I qualify and I race the best ever of my life."

Woah, Eric. Let's not forget you retired within sight of the chequered flag here.

"For me, all I could do was the race," he continues. "OK, I may not have made the chequered flag, but I nearly got there. And I knew that people knew I was quite competitive and I had earned my place in Formula One after that Grand Prix."

The ingredients for that 'perfect' week began in the previous season when he was pitted in several tests against fellow Formula One aspirant Marco Apicella, for a drive in the new Lamborghini team.

"I was in competition with Marco but we did many tests in 1990, from August to December. It was very nice because they could really appreciate one of us over the other one. We had time to express what we could do and how we work. Which is why I got the drive and I was very happy.

Eric van de Poele (Modena Team/Lamborghini 291 Lamborghini) in the 1991 San Marino GP © LAT

"It was also quite good from the money point of view. They chose for me not for money but because of what I could bring in talent.

"They spent a lot of money over the winter with that car. The engine was fantastic and the gearbox was the best. However, the aerodynamics and the chassis weren't very good at all.

"When we started the season we were struggling all the time. I only got my first qualifying session at Imola - I never made it through pre-qualifying until then.

"Pre-qualifying was terrible. We had to go to the track at eight o'clock in the morning, and it was still dusty. It was like being in the middle of the night.

"You had a set of tyres, and you had one hour. It was difficult, because we also had the Jordan in pre-qualifying, who were really quick but in their first year.

"It is terrible for the teams, because we had to give back the passes when we didn't make it through. The sponsors couldn't even stay for the race. As a driver I was OK but I couldn't invite sponsors to the GP because you never knew if I would make the race or not."

But at Imola, which was the third round of the 1991 season, van de Poele made it through. Of the eight cars that attempted pre-qualifying he was fourth, just two-tenths ahead of the fifth-placed runner, Emanuele Pirro in his Dallara Judd.

His teammate Nicola Larini didn't pre-qualify for that race, but thanks to track knowledge van de Poele got his first go at trying to make it into Formula One race.

"Fortunately Imola was the track where I did testing so it was quite a lot easier for me than in the other Grands Prix. Not everyone made the race. At that time we had 35 cars trying to make a 26-car grid. I had number 35 on my car..."

Not only did he then make it through pre-qualifying, but thanks to some slow Footwork Porsches and some struggling AGS Fords, van de Poele made it on to the grid proper.

"Imola then was much more of a power track where you didn't need downforce. Our car didn't have much natural downforce, but it had a good top speed. Lamborghini tried to help me to get the best for that race. And the car was quite competitive compared to the other race tracks.

"I made the grid. Already it was a fantastic achievement so I could finally do free practice. Everything was new. They I qualified."

So with anything above pre-qualifying treated as a bonus, van de Poele was licking his lips when the heavens opened before the race. So treacherous were the conditions, that Alain Prost went off in his Ferrari on the warm-up lap and failed to even start.

"I like those conditions and I knew the track well in the wet. Prost went off in the warm-up lap in the Ferrari in front of the tifosi. It certainly made me think about being careful. It was really surprising, because I realised it could happen to anybody.

Eric van de Poele in Qatar for the 2006 GP Masters race © Getty/GP Masters

"When the race started, it was very damp at the beginning. Maybe in the first two or three laps I was ninth. I knew that some drivers had stopped because I could see them."

But after a gruelling 90 minutes of fighting his way into the points, then came the heartache.

"Going into the last lap, I was in fifth place. It was beginning to misfire after the Variante Alta chicane and it starts spluttering. I radioed to my engineer.

"'Where are you?' he said. The engine was spluttering. The car is rocking.

"'What can I do Dave, what can I do?' I replied.

"And then, all he said was: 'Eric, you can just cry, you can just cry.'

"I'll never forget those words. I stopped just before the last bus-stop chicane."

Van de Poele pulled the Lambo-Lamborghini to the side of the track. He got out and walked away.

"I was not so disappointed - my engineer and my mechanics were more so. One of my mechanics saw that it was a telemetry mistake and that not enough fuel had gone in at the start. He then broke his leg by kicking the telemetry box back in the pits.

"I didn't realise how much effect the loss of these two points would have at the time. Everyone was quite disappointed, but it was afterwards really I understood it would have been good to have those two points, especially for the team, you know?

"I was fifth and I had Mika Hakkinen behind me - I give my points to Hakkinen. In fact, his first two points of this Formula One World Championship - they were mine and I want them back!"

Van de Poele was eventually classified ninth, the best finish of his F1 career. That one eventful race was the only time van de Poele got through pre-qualifying all season.

"We were allowed to miss the pre-qualifying sessions from halfway through the season thanks to that San Marino race and Larini's seventh in Phoenix, but the team wound up before the end of the year, after the Portuguese Grand Prix.

"There was no more money and we dropped, drop," he added.

"With the money I had, it was really a big deal for a Belgian to be in F1. I was lucky at that time to have Thierry Boutsen in the sport that could win races. But that one race was special. I was grateful I had the chance and the privilege to be in Formula One."