It could have been so different, admits Lopez.

Jose Maria Lopez has admitted that the outcome of his GP2 feature race at the Nurburgring could have been totally different had not been delayed during his mandatory pit-stop.

Elevated to fourth on the grid by penalties awarded against two of the cars ahead of him in qualifying, the DAMS driver made a solid start to hold station through the early stages. However, when a wheel stuck at the pit-stop, Lopez dropped back into the clutches of the chasing group, where attempting to pass Neel Jani eventually led to him being caught and passed by both Nelson Piquet Jr and Alex Premat. Under pressure to hold what was now the final point-scoring position, Lopez finally spun out at the Shell chicane, ending his race four laps early.

"I was able to overtake people today, and it could have been another race if I had a better pit-stop," he sighed after making it back to the garage, "I made a good start and was lying third, although I took one of the kerbs too aggressively and lost the car a little bit at the chicane. Two guys passed me then, but it was at the pit-stop, when there was a problem, that we lost the race.

"I lost more than ten seconds there, which was a shame because, when I went back out onto the circuit, I was right behind Gianmaria Bruni and Neel Jani. I passed Bruni and then Jani, but I went a little bit wide and the tyres got dirty. I arrived at the fast chicane and took the outside kerb, but lost the car suddenly."

Lopez was eventually classified in 13th position, and will start Sunday's extended feature race from a similar position on the grid.