Lewis Hamilton has claimed the first double win of the season, storming his way through the pack from eighth on the grid to win race two at the Nurburgring ahead of Nicolas Lapierre and Jose Maria Lopez.

The dominant display has thrown the championship wide open, with the Briton now just one point behind championship leader Nelson Piquet Jr, and Hamilton's performance will have team bosses all along the pitlane biting their nails as they work on matching his speed.

Hamilton's job was made easier before the start of the race when Ernesto Viso and Alex Premat, third and seventh on the grid respectively, stalled as the grid moved off for their warm up lap. Both men were pushed into the pits to get restarted, and Hamilton had two less cars to contend with before the lights went out.

At the start polesitter Hiroki Yoshimoto made a perfect getaway, his new clutch mapping working to plan as he led Lapierre, who blew past Xandi Negrao at the start, into turn one.

Behind them Adam Carroll had also made a strong start, pushing up to third ahead of Lopez and Negrao, with Hamilton the next man by. Further back Andreas Zuber was tapped into a spin, while Javier Villa was pushed into the pits after stalling at the start.

Yoshimoto had the bit between his teeth and was using everything he had to build a gap at the front, pulling away from Lapierre as Carroll was pushing hard behind the Frenchman. Hamilton, starting as he meant to go on, was easily by Negrao on the first lap and into fifth position, while his teammate Premat set the fastest lap after getting out of the pits, sending an ominous warning of the potential of the ART package.

Negrao was in the wars after his poor start from the front row, with Michael Ammermueller climbing all over the rear of the Brazilian's car. The inevitable came on lap four when Negrao ran wide, and the German was through and into the points.

One lap later, in what was fast becoming a habit, Hamilton was easily through Lopez on the inside approach to turn one, putting himself immediately behind Carroll in just half a lap.

The Ulsterman was determined to bring home another podium after picking up his first points of the season, and was masterful in defense of his position. For four laps Hamilton was on the tail of Carroll, and for four laps Carroll held him at bay by holding a perfect line through every corner.

But it wasn't to last: running just inches wide on the second last corner meant that Carroll lost a fraction of speed down the front straight, but that was all Hamilton needed. Carroll had the inside line but locked his tyres into turn one, and Hamilton was on the podium.

Further back Piquet was up to eighth position from twentieth on the grid, and was monstering his teammate ahead of him. Inevitably the Piquet Sports team leader found a way past on lap nine, and was now just one place outside the points as he searched for something to take home from a miserable weekend.

All the effort Carroll had put into defending his position had clearly hurt his tyres; he was dropping like a stone in comparison to Hamilton, which put him into the clutches of fierce rival Lopez. The Argentine was through on the inside of turn one on lap 12 for fourth place, and was off up the road looking for more.