Jolyon Palmer showed decent flashes of speed to finish an encouraging 19th in the first GP2 free practice session at Valencia.

On his first visit to the circuit, the 2010 FIA Formula Two Championship runner-up adapted well to the challenging street layout and ran as high as second in the early stages of the session, completing nine laps as he gained experience of the Spanish venue.

The session was stopped after ten minutes when Jolyon's team mate Josef Kral spun and stalled on track at turn 14, and was stopped again with five minutes remaining when Pal Verhaug came unstuck at the same spot.

The green flags were waved with two minutes remaining, as Jules Bianchi set the fastest time of the session with Guido Van Der Garde second and Luca Filippi third.

Speaking afterwards the son of former Formula One driver Jonathan, said: "The session was red flagged a couple of times which made it difficult to get a lap time in as well as get up to speed with the circuit. I managed to finish 19th in the end but the lap I managed to get in was awful so for qualifying I am hoping for a lot more."

Jolyon will be on track for the crucial qualifying session next at 2.55pm UK time.

Valencia practice one results:

1. J Bianchi, ART, 1:47.681s
2. G Van Der Garde, Addax, +0.055s
3. L Filippi, Nova, +0.433s
4. R Grosjean, DAMS, +0.508s
5. C Pic, Addax, +0.525s
6. D Clos, Racing, +0.627s
7. S Bird, iSport, +0.775s
8. E Gutierrez, ART, +0.803s
9. D Valsecchi, AirAsia, +0.839s
19. J Palmer, Arden, +2.375s