Jolyon Palmer was able to gain vital wet running experience today (Friday) during the first practice session in the opening rounds of the 2011 GP2 season at Turkey's Istanbul Speed Park.

The 20-year-old Brit, who embarks on his first season in the Formula 1 feeder series with Arden International, was able to get 12 laps of wet running during the tricky opening practice session which saw many of the 26 drivers lose control of their 612bhp GP2 machines.

Competitors faced a wet track as the 30-minunte session at the 5.338 km circuit got underway and it wasn't long before it was halted when Lotus ART driver Jules Bianchi left the track. The session didn't resume until some time later but when it did yet more drivers were struggling to cope with the slippery conditions, spinning off just as current F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel had done earlier in the day.

The constant interruptions made tough going for Jolyon as did the yellow flags around the circuit preventing the West Sussex racer from building momentum. He was able to gain good mileage though and end the session P24 with a best time of 1:47.269s.

Speaking afterwards Jolyon said: "That was a difficult session. The track was wet but drying and with high degradation on the wet tyres, a lot of the best times were set early on in the session. Unfortunately I was still finding my feet around the track in the early stages and did my best time at the end on very worn tyres.

"The track is drying now so it looks like it could be a dry qualifying session which will be interesting and hopefully I can get up to speed quicker and move up the order."

GP2 qualifying takes place later today at 1.55pm (GMT+1).

Turkey GP2 Practice One session times:

1. Christian Vietoris, Racing Engineering, 1:43.399s
2. Roman Grosjean, Dams, 1:43.618s
3. Giedo Van Der Garde, Barwa Addax Team, 1:43.992s
4. Jules Bianchi, Lotus ART, 1:44.697s
5. Max Chilton, Carlin, 1:44.745s
6. Dani Clos, Racing Engineering, 1:44.811s
7. Stefano Coletti, Trident Racing, 1:45.066s
8. Luca Filippi, Super Nova Racing, 1:45.135s
9. Fabio Leimer, Rapax, 1:45.281s
24. Jolyon Palmer, Arden International, 1:47.269s.