Jolyon Palmer made an impressive start to his GP2 weekend in Barcelona by going eighth quickest during today's (Friday) opening practice session.

Drivers were greeted with warm, sunny conditions for the 30 minute stint with many, including Palmer, electing not to go out straight away in order to conserve tyres. Degradation is expected to be exceptionally high at the 4.655km circuit.

The 21-year-old took to the track 10 minutes into the session and went P8 after completing six laps before pitting and sitting out the remainder of the session. His eighth spot remained unchallenged as the chequered flag came out with Palmer just +0.367s off P1. It was a closely fought session, with the top 20 drivers lapping within a second.

Speaking afterwards Palmer said: "We only did one run to save the tyres for the race. I did a nice lap which put me P8. I had a few problems in the high speed which will be easily corrected for the qualifying where I think I should be able to challenge for pole."

Josef Kral, returning to the Addax team this weekend, went quickest overall with James Calado second and Felipe Nasr in third.

Jolyon is next on track at 16:00 (local time) for today's qualifying session with full coverage and live timing available on his official website.

GP2 Barcelona, practice results:

1. J Kral, Addax, 1:31.109s
2. J Calado, Lotus GP, +0.059s
3. F Nasr, DAMS, +0.129s
4. G VD Garde, Caterham, +0.137s
5. T Dillmann, Rapax, +0.249s
6. D Valsecchi, DAMS, +0.287s
7. F Crestani, GP Lazarus, +0.291s
8. J Palmer, iSport, +0.367s
9. S Coletti, Scuderia, +0.378s
10. L Razia, Arden, +0.608s