Eric Van de Poele at the 1992 British GP

[52Paddy]

A simple question: did Van de Poele withdraw or simply fail to qualify for the 1992 British GP?

Wikipedia seems to think that he withdrew his entry but two encyclopaedias that I've consulted simply have his result as "DNQ". I've failed to find any more substantial reference to his performance this weekend. I'm aware that the Brabham team had been in dire straits financially and did withdraw their cars before the season's end. However, Hill qualified his Brabham for the GP so the team were present. Also, I found a picture on flickr of Eric van de Poele in action that weekend: Eric Van De Poele Brabham Judd BT60 F1. 1992 British GP Silverstone. | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Although it doesn't specify whether it was a practice or qualifying session, isn't it unlikely that a team would withdraw its car from qualifying on grounds of financial difficulty? Surely they would run with it anyway and attempt to qualify having practiced. The only thing I could think of was an injury, flu or a damaged car. Or, wikipedia could just be wrong...

A reference for the results on the wiki page is given as the 92/93 Autocourse annual. If anyone has it, I'd appreciate if you could consult it for me.

Thanks.

[Rollo]

A simple question: did Van de Poele withdraw or simply fail to qualify for the 1992 British GP?

The official F1 website records that the car was Withdrawn.

Formula 1
WD 7 Eric van de Poele Brabham-Judd - Withdrawn

I think that part of the story is to be found here:
Formula One obsession led to pounds 50m Landhurst fraud - Business, News - The Independent
Ted Ball and David Ashworth, the two directors of Landhurst Leasing who pleaded guilty to corruption charges last Month, appeared at the Old Bailey yesterday to enter their pleas of mitigation. John Willcock looks at how their lucrative luxury car leasing business became deeply corrupt when they expanded into motor racing.
...
Ball, founder of Landhurst Leasing, saw his dream of being a Grand Prix major player shattered in 1992 when his company collapsed following an investigation by accountants Arthur Andersen.
The accountants unearthed a web of corrupt cash payments by a corporate client, Middlebridge Group Ltd (MGL), to Ball and Ashworth, Landhurst's finance director. Both pleaded guilty to corruption charges last month. Mr Justice Pownall heard their counsels' pleas in mitigation yesterday. They are due to be sentenced on Monday.

Under Ted Ball who was the listed team principal, the team borrowed heavily from a finance company called Landhurst Leasing. If they're being implicated in up to £50m in fraud charges, that suggests to me that the team was deeply in financial doo-doo.
Both cars were at the German GP, but only Hill's was at the Hungarian GP and after that... nothing.

The most logical explanation is that both cars were hideously unreliable, and that being the British GP, they cannibalised Van de Poele's car to give Hill a run at his home GP. That seems to be the most logical scenario for a cash-strapped team, but is pure speculation on my part (and all the more difficult considering the event is 19 years old).

[52Paddy]

The official F1 website records that the car was Withdrawn.

Formula 1
WD 7 Eric van de Poele Brabham-Judd - Withdrawn

I think that part of the story is to be found here:
Formula One obsession led to pounds 50m Landhurst fraud - Business, News - The Independent
Ted Ball and David Ashworth, the two directors of Landhurst Leasing who pleaded guilty to corruption charges last Month, appeared at the Old Bailey yesterday to enter their pleas of mitigation. John Willcock looks at how their lucrative luxury car leasing business became deeply corrupt when they expanded into motor racing.
...
Ball, founder of Landhurst Leasing, saw his dream of being a Grand Prix major player shattered in 1992 when his company collapsed following an investigation by accountants Arthur Andersen.
The accountants unearthed a web of corrupt cash payments by a corporate client, Middlebridge Group Ltd (MGL), to Ball and Ashworth, Landhurst's finance director. Both pleaded guilty to corruption charges last month. Mr Justice Pownall heard their counsels' pleas in mitigation yesterday. They are due to be sentenced on Monday.

Under Ted Ball who was the listed team principal, the team borrowed heavily from a finance company called Landhurst Leasing. If they're being implicated in up to £50m in fraud charges, that suggests to me that the team was deeply in financial doo-doo.
Both cars were at the German GP, but only Hill's was at the Hungarian GP and after that... nothing.

The most logical explanation is that both cars were hideously unreliable, and that being the British GP, they cannibalised Van de Poele's car to give Hill a run at his home GP. That seems to be the most logical scenario for a cash-strapped team, but is pure speculation on my part (and all the more difficult considering the event is 19 years old).

Thanks for all that effort Rollo. I appreciate the insight. So I assume his car was withdrawn before qualifying, though he obviously had been driving the car during practice at least, given the pictures I found. Your explanation is logical so I'll run with that for the time being.

Bar man, a pint for Rollo please

[Rollo]

eric van de poele spin 1992 hungarian gp quali.wmv - YouTube

I don't know how much help this is but this is a video of van de Poele in Hungary... in a Fondmetal!

Brabham must have by that stage really been in money trouble if van de Poele found somewhere else to drive.

It may even be worth asking the man himself: Official website of Eric van de Poele - Home
The website has a contact form.

[52Paddy]

eric van de poele spin 1992 hungarian gp quali.wmv - YouTube

I don't know how much help this is but this is a video of van de Poele in Hungary... in a Fondmetal!

Brabham must have by that stage really been in money trouble if van de Poele found somewhere else to drive.

That's right - he did switch to Fondmetal before the season's end. Surely things were that bad at Brabham.

It may even be worth asking the man himself: Official website of Eric van de Poele - Home
The website has a contact form.

Nice one - I've sent off a message. Hopefully they will reply.

[inimitablestoo]

The most logical explanation is that both cars were hideously unreliable, and that being the British GP, they cannibalised Van de Poele's car to give Hill a run at his home GP.

The Autocourse qualifying report alludes to that being pretty much correct. Back then, of course, you could swap cars between drivers and Hill was given van de Poele's car to qualify with. Eric was given "a couple of laps" at the end of Friday qualifying (how old does that sound? ) but, as the annual sympathises, had little hope of doing anything remotely gridworthy. It mentions a water leak on the #7 car, but no suggestion of a withdrawal per se.

Poor Eric. He drove a Lamborghini in what proved to be their only season, joined Brabham just before they folded and jumped ship to Fondmetal only to see them go under three races later. It's no wonder he gave up on F1 to drive a Nissan in the BTCC. Until they pulled out...

[52Paddy]

The Autocourse qualifying report alludes to that being pretty much correct. Back then, of course, you could swap cars between drivers and Hill was given van de Poele's car to qualify with. Eric was given "a couple of laps" at the end of Friday qualifying (how old does that sound? ) but, as the annual sympathises, had little hope of doing anything remotely gridworthy. It mentions a water leak on the #7 car, but no suggestion of a withdrawal per se.

Sound man. That's about as much as I need anyway. Any further details are a bonus.