Jolyon Palmer will start from 22nd on the grid for tomorrow's GP2 Feature Race in Barcelona following today's (Friday) 30-minute qualifying session.

The 20-year-old Brit, who is competing in his first season of the Formula One feeder series this year, posted a best time of 1:31.822s around the 4.655km Circuit de Catalunya.

Jolyon, son of former Formula One racer Jonathan, began the session brightly, running in the midfield before pitting to make adjustments to his 612bhp GP2 machine. After returning to the track, the West Sussex racer pushed hard during the closely-fought qualifying session but was unable to better his earlier time.

The rookie still has high hopes for tomorrow's race one though with the luxury of a fresh set of tyres - carried over from the day's earlier practice session - and his experience of the Spanish track from when he raced here last year on his way to securing the runner-up spot in the FIA Formula Two Championship.

Speaking afterwards Jolyon, who drives for Arden International, said: "That was a really disappointing session for us. We struggled with an inconsistent car and an entry oversteer problem that we've never experienced before. The times are close so it is a shame we are such a long way down but now at least we can use our good set of tyres and hopefully make up some ground in tomorrow's race."

Lotus ART driver Jules Bianchi qualified on pole with Giedio Van Der Garde in second and Sam Bird in third. Race one takes place tomorrow at 14:40 (GMT+1).

Barcelona GP2 Qualifying session times:

1. J Bianchi, Lotus ART, 1:30.369s
2. G Van Der Garde, Barwa Addax, +0.104s
3. S Bird, iSport, +0.119s
4. C Pic, Barwa Addax, +0.247s
5. R Grosjean, DAMS, +0.438s
6. D Valsecchi, AirAsia, +0.451s
7. D Clos, Racing Engineering, +0.558s
8. M Ericsson, iSport, +0.566s
9. S Coletti, Trident Racing, +0.605s
22. J Palmer, Arden International, +1.453s