Nineteen year-old sensation Nico Hulkenberg led from start to finish and never encountered a serious challenge to his lead throughout the event.

A1 Team France’s Loic Duval finished second a daunting four seconds to the rear of Hulkenberg, whose German team currently leads the standings in the chase for the “World Cup of Motorsports”. Third in the race was host A1 Team New Zealand with Jonny Reid only half a second behind in his stunning, sleek black Lola-Zytec racer.

Netherlands’ car driven by Jeroen Bleekemolen placed fourth while A1 Team Switzerland surged to a surprising fifth place with Sebastien Buemi behind the wheel of his country’s entry.

A1 Team Germany’s dominance manifest itself in more than the margin of victory. Hulkenberg also set fastest lap for the race, scoring an additional point for his team toward their season total, at a near-Pole pace of 1:14.862 seconds.

Hulkenberg was forthright in his assessment of the race and his team’s performance: “The first start wasnt good and then for the second one there was no problem. At the beginning I had a bit of a problem with my car and Loic was putting me under pressure. But then it got better and better and now I am happy. We have to put a lot of fuel in for the main race so we always have to change some little things.”

The race began on an off note, with A1 Team France failing to take its correct grid position. After a second formation lap, the race promptly and smartly got underway. Going into turn one came the first incident of the race--a collision between A1 Teams Great Britain and Malaysia which sent Malaysian driver Alex Yoong to the pits for repairs and eventual retirement for nineteenth place.

From that point the teams of Germany, France and New Zealand began edging away from the field. High-winds and the dusty track got the better of Team Lebanons Alex Khateeb, who locked up his wheels and went into the back of A1 Team Singapore on lap five.

Britain’s Robbie Kerr continued on despite damage to his car and eventually finished eighth in the race, behind Canada’s James Hinchcliffe and South Africa’s Alan van der Merwe. Williams F1 tester Narain Karthikeyan finished the Sprint race tenth, one spot ahead of American A1GP newcomer Ryan Hunter-Reay, followed by Mexico’s Salvador Duran in twelfth.

Czech Tomas Enge finished seventeenth driving for his native country, and Ireland’s Richard Lyons was a disappointing twentieth and eight laps down at the finish.

“I made a good start and Nico was a little bit earlier on the throttle so I was second,” said Duval. “I was a little bit faster than him but it was difficult to overtake him. It would have been stupid to take a risk in this race so that is why I was second and that is okay for me.

I think I can perhaps catch Nico in the Feature race, we will see. It will be a long race with pit stops. I think we have a good car and for the second one for sure I will stay near him and if I can overtake I will try.

Third place finisher A1 Team New Zealand’s Jonny Reid said, “I will take that (third). It was tough work out there as the start was difficult. I could not see the lights because Nicos wing was in my way. I was trying to re-arrange myself in the cockpit just so I could see the lights go out. I had a look inside the French car at the start but there was no room for me. I had to settle for third from there.

I think I may be able to catch these guys in the Feature race The car was reasonable and there is a small change we can make that I know will make it go quicker. It wasnt perfect but I am sure we can get it right for the main race.”

The Feature race will commence at 3PM local New Zealand time Sunday afternoon. The cars will line up for the Feature in the order of finish from the Sprint race. Stay tuned to Fastmachines.com for the latest in A1GP racing coverage worldwide.

SuperPoints A1GP New Zealand at Taupo, New Zealand
2.2 miles, 13 turn road course circuiting counterclockwise

Sprint race results
A1 Team Driver Time Gap
1 Germany Nico Hulkenberg 19:49.089
2 France Loic Duval 19:52.836 +3.747
3 New Zealand Jonny Reid 19:53.304 +4.215
4 Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen 19:56.621 +7.532
5 Switzerland Sebastien Buemi 19:56.891 +7.802
6 Canada James Hinchcliffe 19:57.898 +8.809
7 South Africa Alan van der Merwe 20:05.413 +16.324
8 Great Britain Robbie Kerr 20:18.182 +29.093
9 Italy Enrico Toccacelo 20:18.606 +29.517
10 India Narain Karthikeyan 20:18.720 +29.631
11 USA Ryan Hunter Reay 20:19.226 +30.137
12 Mexico Salvador Duran 20:19.623 +30.534
13 China Ho-Pin Tung 20:20.519 +31.430
14 Australia Karl Reindler 20:20.775 +31.686
15 Indonesia Ananda Mikola 20:21.865 +32.776
16 Brazil Raphael Matos 20:24.896 +35.807
17 Czech Republic Tomas Enge 20:40.636 +51.547
18 Pakistan Nur Ali 20:59.999 +1:10.910
19 Malaysia Alex Yoong 20:23.674 1 Lap
20 Ireland Richard Lyons 9:54.772 8 laps
21 Lebanon Alex Khateeb 11:17.285 8 Laps
22 Singapore Christian Murchison - -
Fastest lap: 1:14.862 A1 Team Germany, Nico Hulkenberg