Jolyon Palmer was deprived of a possible top 10 finish during today's (Friday) eventful GP2 Feature Race in Monaco when his race was cut short due to brake problems.

The 20-year-old, who has never raced at the iconic street circuit before, was running as high as 10th with good pace before his Arden International car was struck by mechanical issues with around 10 laps left to go.

As the lights went out for the start of the 41-lap race, pole-sitter Sam Bird stalled off the line with Jolyon and the rest of the field clambering to avoid his stationary car. Jolyon was then running P19 during the opening stages where tyre degradation would prove to be a key factor.

The West Sussex racer then elected to pit early on lap seven, along with four other drivers, rejoining at the back of the field but on fresh Pirelli supersoft tyres. He soon began to climb his way through the field and by the halfway stage was running in 16th place chasing down Fabio Leimer's car ahead. 

Jolyon then gained a further three places to be running 13th and one place behind fellow countryman Sam Bird before moving his way inside the top 10 - just as he did in Turkey earlier this month.

With around 10 laps still to go, Jolyon was battling hard to secure his top 10 place before he was forced to pit again with brake issues - ending what had been a very promising race for the young Brit.

Speaking afterwards Jolyon said: "That was a disappointing race for me. We pitted early and got up to 10th place at one stage but then I had a problem with my brakes with about 12 laps to go so I had to pit again and that effectively ended my race. It is a shame because the pace was not bad and I was on course for a top 10 finish. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be trouble free and we can move up the results a bit."

Davide Valsecchi secured the honours in the drama-filled race in which only 15 of the 26 starters completed the full distance. Alvaro Parente finished second with Luca Filippi in third.

Jolyon is next on track at 15:10 (GMT+1) tomorrow for the GP2 Sprint Race.

Monaco GP2 Race One results:

1. Davide Valsecchi, AirAsia, 41 laps
2. Alvaro Parente, Racing Engineering, +1.471s
3. Luca Filippi, Super Nova Racing, +2.199s
4. Roman Grosjean, DAMS, +4.219s
5. Stefano Coletti, Trident Racing, +14.023s
6. Josef Kral, Arden International, +14.467s
7. Max Chilton, Carlin, +16.071s
8. Charles Pic, Addax, +19.524s
9. F Leimer, Rapax, +19.934s
- J Palmer, Arden International, +8 laps