In the world of top level motorsport, series organisers are constantly looking at ways to heighten the expectation and drama behind the event, to add an extra dynamic to the equation, something that will provide the drivers with an ultimate test of their skill and the fans with an amazing show. The latest spectacle to hit the scene is night racing. In the last year alone we have seen a plethora of night races taking part in MotoGP, Formula 1 and now GP2.

On February 13th 2009 the circuit of Losail in Qatar had the honour of hosting the inaugural GP2 night race. With the circuit bathed in the warm glow of the circuit floodlights, Nico Hulkenberg managed to place his ART car on pole position for the second time in three races ahead of what was to be a challenging, tactical battle ahead.

The race got underway in explosive fashion as Sakon Yamamoto stalled on the grid when the lights turned to green, the field behind scrambled to avoid the stricken car but unfortunately the fast starting Yelmer Buurman who started from 23rd place ran out of space and collected the stationary car on his way through, his car briefly catching fire. Thankfully due to the stringent safety regulations governing the structure of today’s race cars both drivers were able to escape uninjured.

At the front Nico had slipped back to second off the start behind Sergio Perez who had managed to out-drag the 2008 F3 EuroSeries champion down to the first corner, but the twenty-one year old German didn’t panic and settled down into a comfortable rhythm behind the leader conserving his tires for later in the race.

Javier Villa had also managed to make an impressive start, and forced his way up from seventh to third, before finally hounding and passing Nico for second place. However, it was inevitable that running such a pace would have a detrimental effect on his tire wear and he was forced to pit for fresh rubber.

Nico was also struggling after losing communication with his team from the onboard radio. Communication between the two was now achieved in the old fashion method of using the pit board on the start/finish straight. Despite the lack of radio contact his times were good and consistent and his careful management of the tires in the early stages was now starting to pay dividends as other drivers were forced to pit to maintain his blistering pace.

After the pit stop Nico was able to maintain a healthy distance between himself and the chasing pack as he stormed home to his first GP2 victory with an impressive victory margin of thirteen seconds, following him home in second place was Sergio Perez and Vitaly Petrov completed the podium in third.

Speaking afterwards Nico commented "We did the right strategy to stay out, My biggest problem was that I'd lost my communication to the team. So it was very quiet for a long time and I never got a clear answer when I asked if I should pit, so I stayed out. Everything was fine and to win a race after just three starts isn't bad I think."

With two rounds of the championship left it remains to be seen whether Nico will be allowed to overhaul the current point’s leader Kamui Kobayashi. However, he has certainly made his mark on the Asia GP2 series and he has shown good promise for when the main series kicks off in Barcelona on May 10th 2009.