Jolyon Palmer recorded a credible top ten finish after battling through an eventful GP2 Feature race at Silverstone today.

Jolyon was in confident mood after clinching his best ever grid slot of 11th in Friday's qualifying session, but the race was forced to start under the safety car following a torrential downpour just minutes before the scheduled start time. After three laps behind the pace car, racing began and the Southwater driver managed to maintain his 11th position. He briefly moved into tenth after passing Charles Pic, but title favourite Romain Grosjean then found his way around the young Brit.

Visabilty was limited early on but the track soon began to dry out and Jolyon found himself in a seven car trail for fifth place, lapping three seconds faster than team-mate Josef Kral at that point of the race. With the track drying quickly, Palmer pitted on lap 14 for slick tyres and once the pit stop shake-up was completed, he reclaimed 11th spot.

With 11 laps of the race remaining, Jolyon slipped through into tenth position by passing Esteban Gutierrez at Vale. The 20-year-old guided the car home in tenth, but the move on Gutierrez was subject to a stewards' inquiry. 

Jules Bianchi clinched his first win in GP2 from Christian Vietoris and Marcus Ericsson. Jolyon's Arden team-mate Kral finished in 23rd spot.

A frustrated Jolyon said: "It was an interesting race. It started wet and I stayed in 11th but then as it dried we stayed out for a lap or two too long and lost a place. Then I had good initial pace on slicks and I caught and passed some people including Gutierrez with a bit of contact."    

Jolyon will return to the track for tomorrow's GP2 Series Sprint race at 9.30am.


Silverstone Race One results:

1. J Bianchi, Lotus ART, 29 laps
2. C Vietoris, Racing, +4.1s
3. M Erricsson, iSport, +4.9s
4. R Grosjean, DAMS, +5.6s
5. S Bird, iSport, +11.4s
6. D Clos, Racing, +23.2s
7. S Colletti, Trident Racing, +31.9s
8. G Van Der Garde, Barwa Addax, +33.7s
9. A Parente, Carlin, +34.3s
10. J Palmer, Arden, +41.1s