Jolyon Palmer produced an impressive performance during this morning's (Friday) opening GP2 practice session in Monza to claim the 12th fastest time.

The 20-year-old Brit put in a late surge during the last few moments of the 30-minute stint to record a best time of 1:33.115s - just 1.097s off the pace and netting his second best practice result of the season.

Drivers were greeted with hot, sunny conditions as the packed 26 car field took to the 5.793km Italian track to start the final round of the year.

Jolyon, who won twice here on his way to becoming the 2010 FIA Formula Two Championship runner-up, began the session running just outside the top 20 before pitting halfway through to make adjustments to his Arden International car.

He exited the pit lane with 10 minutes remaining and, after getting his tyres up to temperature, hooked up an impressive final lap to shoot into 12th place - several places ahead of his team-mate Josef Kral in P23.

Commenting on the session Jolyon said: "It was a good, productive session. We tried different downforce settings out and I managed to put my best time in towards the end. P12 is a decent result in the end considering my tyres were well past their best. Hopefully we can make progress and have a good qualifying session."

Meanwhile, Luca Filippi secured the fastest time for the session on home soil with Fabio Leimer second and 2011 GP2 champion Romain Grosjean in third.

Jolyon is next on track at 15:55 (local time) for today's GP2 qualifying session.

Monza, GP2 practice results:

1. L Filippi, Scuderia, 1:32.018s
2. F Leimer, Rapax, +0.110s
3. R Grosjean, DAMS, +0.298s
4. J Bianchi, ART, +0.478s
5. C Pic, Addax, +0.593s
6. M Chilton, Carlin, +0.682s
7. A Parente, Carlin, +0.785s
8. G VD Garde, Addax, +0.848s
9. L Razia, AirAsia, +0.872s
12. J Palmer, Arden International, +1.097s