A pit-stop problem potentially cost Nico Hülkenberg victory in the latest round of A1GP at Sentul last weekend, as the German came home just over a second shy of the win in the feature race in torrential weather.
Hülkenberg seemed to revel in the treacherous conditions, as he had done at Sepang a fortnight earlier en route to his second triumph of an ever-more impressive campaign. Indeed, the 19-year-old is increasingly marking himself out as an undoubted star of the future, having wrapped up the Formula
BMW Germany laurels in only his debut season in the category in 2005.
Fifth place in the earlier sprint would prove to be a precursor to a feature race charge. Grabbing the lead from the New Zealand entry as early as lap six, the Emmerich ace went on to open up a 20-second advantage on the tricky surface, before a less consistent second set of tyres allowed eventual winner Jonny Reid to close back in again and reclaim his advantage.
Changing over to slicks on lap 29, an air hose at the left rear power wrench broke, costing Hülkenberg 12 seconds. A safety-car phase caused by Robbie Kerr's spin bunched the field back up again shortly before the end, and at the flag the German was a mere 1.1 seconds adrift – a clear sign of what might have been had he not had to contend with those pit-stop woes.
The former German Formula 3 front-runner was nevertheless pleased to have stretched Team Germany's lead in the nations' title chase from six points to 12 as the series heads into its Christmas break.
“We expanded the lead in the standings – that's why I can be very happy with second place,” he stated. “In the sprint race I lost three places, then when a gear got jammed while I was up-shifting another position was lost to Australia, but later I overtook him again under braking.
![Nico Hulkenberg (GER) - A1 Team Germany [Pic credit: A1GP Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/272684.jpg)
