Jolyon Palmer completed a successful opening day of GP2 testing in Barcelona to secure the fifth quickest time overall.

The 21-year-old Brit made a flying start to the day's morning session, making the most of the cooler conditions to put in a best time of 1:29.645 to go second quickest and just a few tenths off Fabrizio Crestani's pace.

For the afternoon stint Jolyon once again focused on short runs in his iSport car but was hampered by a red flag and heavy traffic when beginning a new run on fresh rubber, meaning his time from the morning remained his best of the day to leave him fifth overall.

Speaking afterwards Jolyon said: "We had a good afternoon session but unfortunately I hit a red flag and then a lot of traffic just as I went onto new tyres so I was unable to post a good lap time. Still, we can see that the pace is there and overall it has been a good day finishing P5 overall."

Fabrizio Crestani topped the timesheets overall for the day with Max Chilton second and Julian Leal third. Testing in Barcelona's continues tomorrow at 9am (local time) with full coverage on Jolyon's official website.

GP2 test, Barcelona day one, combined results:

1. Fabrizio Crestani - Lazarus, 1:29.420s
2. Max Chilton - Carlin, 1:29.479s
3. Julian Leal - Trident, 129.494s
4. Marcus Ericsson - iSport, 129.605s
5. Jolyon Palmer - iSport, 1:29.645s
6. Stephane Richelmi - Trident, 1:29.658s
7. Rio Haryanto - Carlin, 1:29.673s
8. Stefano Coletti - Coloni, 1:29.687s
9. Davide Valsecchi - Dams, 1:29.726s
10. James Calado - Lotus GP, 1:29.740s

Image courtesy of Craig Boon, Octane Photographic