Hulkenberg takes seventh win of year

The champion has taken all of his wins this season in the non-reverse grid rounds and underlined his place at the top of the championship by pulling eight seconds clear of the battle for second place.

Hulkenberg increased his lead throughout the race, pushing all the way and locking up several times at the Turn 3 hairpin.

"Quite soon after the start there was the safety car, but I kept cool because I knew my speed was very good," he said. "The car was great after the restart and I did what I wanted to do at Le Mans and win to show who is the champion.

"I have wanted all year to at least be on the podium in both races so that is the aim from eighth tomorrow."

Behind, Christian Vietoris held second throughout, but the Mucke Motorsport driver was racing under appeal following his exclusion from qualifying when his car was found to be underweight. The team protested, claiming that it was only underweight because the sidepod had been damaged and part of it had fallen off, so his second place ahead of Renger van der Zande is provisional.

"I hope I can keep the points, it's very important because everything is still open for second place in the championship," said Vietoris.

The result as it stands brought Vietoris and van der Zande back into contention in the battle for second place in the standings, with Mika Maki also in the hunt after finishing fourth.

The current second-placed driver, Edoardo Mortara, finished the race only 14th. He ran third in the early stages but was given a drive-through penalty for going beyond the run-off at the exit of turn one. He was one of four drivers to receive the penalty in the race, along with Sam Bird, Robert Wickens and Jens Klingmann.

Jules Bianchi could also come into play in the fight for second in tomorrow's finale. The Frenchman had a lackluster race, losing places on the first lap and then running wide at Turn 2 and allowing Stefano Coletti, Jean-Karl Vernay and Koudai Tsukakoshi through.

But he still finished in seventh place so will start tomorrow's reverse grid race from the front row.

The race was broken up by a lengthy safety car period following multiple collisions at the Turn 3 hairpin on the opening lap. Brendon Hartley was pitched into a roll by Erik Janis and had to be extracted from his car by the medical crew having appeared to injure his back as his car landed awkwardly.

While on the outside of that incident, Jon Lancaster and Kazuya Oshima collided and both retired.

Pos Driver                   Team               Car            Gap
 1. Nico Hülkenberg          ART                D/M      41:22.235
 2. Christian Vietoris       Mucke              D/M         +7.888
 3. Renger van der Zande     Prema              D/M         +8.702
 4. Mika Maki                Mucke              D/M        +14.499
 5. Stefano Coletti          Prema              D/M        +15.885
 6. Jean-Karl Vernay         Signature          D/V        +17.821
 7. Koudai Tsukakoshi        Manor              D/M        +22.904
 8. Jules Bianchi            ART                D/M        +23.614
 9. Erik Janis               Mucke              D/M        +31.436
10. Dani Clos                Prema              D/M        +32.434
11. Henkie Waldschmidt       SG                 D/M        +36.208
12. James Jakes              ART                D/M        +43.202
13. Edoardo Mortara          Signature          D/V        +44.057
14. Yann Clairay             SG                 D/M        +44.786
15. Daniel Campos-Hull       HBR                D/M        +45.500
16. Cheng Cong Fu            RC                 D/V        +51.869
17. Sam Bird                 Manor              D/M        +52.508
18. Franck Mailleux          Signature          D/V        +58.365
19. Richard Philippe         SG                 D/M        +58.951
20. Frederic Vervisch        RC                 D/V      +1:00.368
21. Basil Shaaban            HBR                D/M      +1:05.700
22. Stephane Richelmi        Barazi-Epsilon     D/M      +1:13.167
23. Jens Klingmann           RC                 D/V      +1:18.078
24. Robert Wickens           Signature          D/V      +1:21.190


Retirements
    Oliver Oakes             Carlin             D/M         8 laps
    Kazuya Oshima            Manor              D/M         0 laps
    Brendon Hartley          Carlin             D/M         0 laps
    Jon Lancaster            ART                D/M         0 laps

Fastest lap, Hulkenberg 1:34.221 on lap 17