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Hulkenberg battles to finish sixth in Korea

Last Updated 14 October 2012, 12:21 IST

Sahara Force India's Nico Hulkenberg got ahead of teammate Paul di Resta in the Formula One drivers' standings after finishing sixth in the Korean Grand Prix here Sunday. Di Resta came 12th.

Hulkenberg battled though the 55-lap race to secure eight points for the team, pushing him to 12th spot in the drivers' championship with 45 points from 16 rounds. Di Resta is a a place below the German with 44 points.

Though both Force India drivers were on a two-stop strategy, Hulkenberg got the better out of it. He did well to leave the pit lane just ahead of Romain Grosjean after the first stop. Then he was involved in a battle with Grosjean and Lewis Hamilton before he managed to get ahead of them on lap 40.

“The race was a lot of fun and it’s great to get such a mega result. It wasn’t easy though, and for most of the race I had the Lotus of Romain pushing me and some great battles," said Hulkenberg, who started eighth on the grid.

"I think the best moment of the race was the fight with Lewis  and Romain in the final stint when I got ahead of both of them in turn four. They both went to the inside so I just saw the opportunity to use the outside line and made the move work. That certainly put a big smile on my face."

Di Resta, on the other hand, said it was always going to be tough after the 12th place in Saturday's qualifying.

"A tough race in many ways and it’s fair to say that the result in qualifying hampered us quite badly. We expected the supersoft to be a better race tyre and so we saved it for the second stint. As it happened, the soft tyres did not last long enough at the start of the race and when I switched to the supersofts they started graining straight away. So we were not on the ideal strategy and that impacted the whole race," said the Scot.
Force India remain in seventh place in the constructors' championship with 89 points, behind Sauber on 116.

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(Published 14 October 2012, 12:21 IST)

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