Jolyon Palmer got his 2012 GP2 campaign off to the perfect start by topping the timesheets during today's (Friday) opening practice session in Malaysia.

At a warm and humid Sepang circuit, Jolyon began the 30 minute session strongly, using the harder prime tyre to lap inside the top 10 on his first run before returning to the pits.

Waved yellow flags to recover the stricken car of Esteban Gutierrez then hampered the session at the halfway stage with 21-year-old Jolyon returning to the 5.543km track with 10 minutes left on the clock.

Having switched to the medium option tyres, Jolyon, racing for iSport, then went top with a superb 1:46.514s, becoming the first driver to lap under the 1:47 marker and remaining unbeaten for the rest of the session.

His closest rival was DAMS driver Davide Valsecchi who came within 0.164s using the harder Pirelli tyres and fellow countryman Max Chilton third, with iSport being the only team to use the medium compound.

Speaking afterwards a delighted Jolyon said: "That was a great way to start 2012! I felt comfortable from the start and really enjoyed driving the track. We used the option tyres as we do not expect a big difference in pace, but this should put us in a good position for the race, as with two sets of prime tyres we should have better race pace. Hopefully we can continue this form through to qualifying so that puts us in the best place for tomorrow."

Jolyon is next on track at 07:55 (UK time) for the weekend's qualifying session with full coverage and live timing available on his official website.

GP2 Malaysia, practice results:

1. J Palmer, iSport, 1:46.514s
2. D Valsecchi, DAMS, +0.164s
3. M Chilton, Carlin, +0.638s
4. G VD Garde, Caterham, +0.715s
5. F Onidi, Scuderia, +0.804s
6. F Nasr, DAMS, +0.846s
7. L Razia, Arden, +0.904s
8. J Calado, Lotus GP, +1.018s
9. S Coletti, Scuderia, +1.019s
10. J Kral, Addax, +1.066s