Van de Poele began his racing career in the mid-1980s with a difficult 1984 campaign in French Formula Three. He pivoted to touring car competition, winning both the Belgian and Benelux Formula Ford titles before taking on the Belgian Touring Car Championship. His versatility across categories was a defining feature of his early career, and he also competed in German Touring Cars, winning the 1987 Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft — notably achieving the title without winning a single race during the season, through consistent points scoring. That same year he shared a victory in the Spa 24 Hours with Didier Theys and Jean-Michel Martin, adding a prestigious endurance win to his touring car title.
He moved into Formula 3000 for 1989, finishing fourth in the championship in his debut season, a strong result that signalled his potential in open-wheel competition.
Van de Poele's 1990 International Formula 3000 campaign was the high point of his single-seater career. He won three races during the season and mounted a serious challenge for the championship title, ultimately finishing as runner-up. The championship that year was closely contested, and his three victories demonstrated that he possessed the outright pace to challenge at the front of the field consistently. The runner-up finish placed him firmly on the radar of Formula One teams looking for experienced European single-seater talent.
On the strength of his F3000 performances, van de Poele moved into Formula One for 1991 with the Modena team, driving their Lamborghini-powered cars. The arrangement was supported by backing from long-time team sponsor LeasePlan. He qualified for the grid at his third attempt, appearing at the 1991 San Marino Grand Prix, where he impressed with a strong wet-weather drive that had him running fifth in the closing stages before fuel depletion dropped him to ninth at the finish. Financial difficulties within the Modena operation meant he was unable to build on this debut, and the team could not sustain a full campaign.
For 1992, van de Poele signed with Brabham, a team also beset by chronic financial constraints. He qualified the outdated car for the opening South African Grand Prix, finishing thirteenth, but was unable to qualify it again as the season progressed. He frequently matched his team-mate Damon Hill in the second Brabham across the events he contested. At the Hungarian Grand Prix he switched to the Fondmetal team, which proved marginally more competitive. He qualified at his first attempt for Fondmetal, but spun out. He then achieved an excellent fifteenth starting position for the Belgian Grand Prix, finishing tenth, and qualified again for the Italian Grand Prix before a clutch failure ended his race. Fondmetal also encountered money problems and withdrew from the season, ending van de Poele's Formula One career in practice. He served as a test driver for Tyrrell in 1993 but did not return to race in Grand Prix competition.
After Formula One, van de Poele became one of the most successful endurance racing drivers of his generation. He won the 12 Hours of Sebring in both 1995 and 1996, and added the Petit Le Mans in 1998 to his resume. Most remarkably, he became the most successful driver in the history of the Spa 24 Hours, supplementing his 1987 win with further victories in 1998, 2005, 2006, and 2008 — giving him five wins at the event, a record. He also competed in the Rolex Sports Car Series in 2008 and is a three-times class winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.