Nico Hulkenberg hopes he “can target points” during this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, as the Force India driver has not scored since Melbourne’s season opener.

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The German came quite close to make his top-ten return during the previous round held at Monaco. But a first lap clash with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso sent him into the barriers at Mirabeau, leaving him on the fringes of the points-paying positions.

Team-mate Sergio Perez’ strong P7 and Hulkenberg’s post-incident recovery suggested the 27-year-old had the pace to challenge for points in the principality.

“I am looking forward to getting back to racing in Canada after leaving Monaco empty-handed,” said Hulkenberg. “I feel we could have been in the points but obviously the incident on the first lap robbed us of a chance to maximise our result.”

The 2009 GP2 Series finished fifth at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve 12 months ago and is confident the Île Notre-Dame venue will play to his Mercedes-powered VJM08’s strengths.

“The track in Montreal should be one that suits us,” declared Hulkenberg who is racing with the iconic No 27 local hero Gilles Villeneuve famously sported at Ferrari.

“It’s a power circuit because of the long straights and you need good traction to get out of the low-speed corners. To be quick you need to attack the kerbs and be brave enough to get close to the walls.

“We will have soft and supersoft tyres again, which worked quite well for us in Monaco, so I think we can target points this weekend.”

After competing in Canada, Hulkenberg will travel Circuit de La Sarthe, where he will take part in the 83rdrunning of the Le Mans 24 Hours with Porsche.

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