Jolyon Palmer continued his strong form in GP2 pre-season testing at Barcelona in the afternoon session as the first of two days of testing at the Spanish circuit came to a close.

Brit Jolyon was full of confidence at the 4.655km track after bagging P7 and initially leading the morning session.

The Arden International driver, in his first season of the Formula 1 feeder-series, then set a best time of 1:30.982s in the afternoon session - halfway through his 25-lap run - and ended up 15th.

His best time was just +1.264s off the pace set by Team AirAsia driver Davide Valsechhi, who topped the timesheets with a 1:29.718s. His fastest time from the morning's session remained good enough for 9th overall on the day.

"I finished the day 9th overall, only 15th in the afternoon but the times are extremely close so it's not the end of the world," said Jolyon. "I've got a few things to work on but it's been a productive day as we have got through a good test plan and learnt a lot about this new GP2 car. Hopefully tomorrow can be equally as useful as we will prepare more race simulations."

Testing continues on Wednesday at the Circuit de Catalunya after which Jolyon, aged 20, will have just three weeks to prepare for the opening rounds of the 2011 GP2 season which begin in Istanbul on 6-8 May.

Barcelona GP2 afternoon session times:

1. Davide Valsecchi, Team AirAsia, 1:29.718s
2. Luca Filippi, Super Nova Racing, 1:29.743s
3. Jules Bianchi, Lotus ART, 1:29, 912s
4. Michael Herck, Scuderia Coloni, 1:30.262s
5. Roman Grosjean, Dams, 1:30.371s
6. Esteban Gutierrez, Lotus ART, 1:30.402s
7. Luiz Razia, Team AirAsia, 1:30.544s
8. Max Chilton, Carlin, 1:30.602s
9. Marcus Ericsson, iSport International, 1:30.780s
10. Christian Vietoris, Racing Engineering, 1:30.807s
15. Jolyon Palmer, Arden International, 1:30.982s