Nico Hulkenberg extended his run of consecutive victories to five in the A1 Grand Prix sprint race at Durban, the German putting in another peerless lights-to-flag performance that matches Alexandre Premat's seven race winning record.
Another typically clinical sprint race that did not quite live up to the billing of ‘carnage' that had been predicted by many, Hulkenberg got the hammer down from the rolling start and was never troubled throughout the 15 laps, eking out a lead to just under three seconds over France's Loic Duval.
Duval had started third but used the opportunity of an even getaway to dive down the inside of second place Matt Halliday going into the tight hairpin to move up a spot, the Frenchman duly holding onto the place to record his fourth podium in five races.
Switzerland's Neel Jani tried a similar daring move down the outside of turn one too but instead found himself caught out by Jeroen Bleekemolen, who more sensibly chose the normal racing line and slotted into fourth place.
It was a top five that would remain stagnant for the remainder of the race, the quintet crossing the line some seconds up on sixth place Richard Lyons, who managed to double Ireland's points tally when a strong start got him up into the final points paying position.
That came at the expense of Mexico who had been looking to end a points drought of five races in Durban. However, Salvador Duran lost out to Lyons at the start and then later succumbed to mechanical problems while running in seventh place.
His problems allowed South Africa up a position, setting them up for a strong run in the feature race, while Portugal, Great Britain and Indonesia rounded out the top ten.
Although perhaps not as chaotic as practice and qualifying had suggested, the race did have its moments for some drivers, with Brazil, Lebanon and Malaysia all falling foul of body damage through the tight first corner hairpin to ruin their race, while Christian Murchison also retired when he kissed the Durban walls on lap eight.
![Nico Hulkenberg (GER) - A1 Team Germany [Pic credit: A1GP Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/291604.jpg)
