Jolyon Palmer finished in a superb ninth place on his GP2 debut weekend during today's (Sunday) GP2 sprint race in Turkey after making up an incredible eight places from 17th on the gird.

As the lights went out for the start of the 23-lap race, the 20-year-old made a good start to gain two places early on before ending the opening lap at the Istanbul Speed Park in P16.

The British racer, son of former Formula 1 driver Jonathan, was soon up to 14th position, showing good pace in the midfield.

At the halfway stage Jolyon had moved into P13 running just fractions of a second behind Michael Herck as he looked to close in on the Scuderia Coloni driver.

With eight laps to go on the 5.338km track, Jolyon, racing for Arden International, then gained yet another place to lie P12 and hot on the heels of Davide Valescchi with whom he tangled with in yesterday's race one.

A retirement ahead then saw the West Sussex racer gain a further place before the safety car was deployed following a heavy collision between Julian Leal and Davide Rigon, with just four laps to go to the chequered flag.

The safety car then peeled off with just one lap to go leaving Jolyon one last charge to break into the top 10. In a frantic last lap, Jolyon duly delivered making up two more places to cross the line in a remarkable ninth place after starting the race way back in P17.

Speaking after the race Jolyon said: "I had some clutch issues early on but I managed my tyres and held position. For some reason I was also suffering with straight line speed and was a sitting duck on the straights. As the race wore on I started moving through the field to 11th. The safety car period didn't help because my car was feeling good but on the final lap I managed to gain two places and finish ninth to end a solid weekend where I feel as a team we learnt a huge amount. Hopefully in Spain I can get some solid points on a track I know."

Stefano Coletti won the thrilling race with Giedo Van Der Garde in second and Sam Bird in third. Romain Grosjean and Sam Bird are now level on points (13) in the championship standings.

The next rounds of the GP2 series take place in Spain (Circuit de Catalunya) from 20-22 May.

Turkey GP2 Race Two results:

1. Stefano Coletti, Trident Racing, 23 laps
2. G Van Der Garde, Barwa Addax, +2.184
3. Sam Bird, iSport, +2.756
4. Charles Pic, Barwa Addax, +3.243
5. Fairuz Fauzy, Super Nova Racing, +3.502
6. Josef Kral, Arden International, +5.038
7. Jules Bianchi, Lotus ART, +5.373
8. Marcus Ericsson, iSport, 5.602
9. Jolyon Palmer, Arden International, +7.143
10. Roman Grosjean, DAMS, +7.501