West Sussex GP2 driver Jolyon Palmer is in confident mood ahead of the opening rounds of the season in Malaysia this weekend (22-24 March). The 22-year-old Briton will be making his debut with the highly-respected Carlin Motorsport team, alongside Brazilian team-mate Felipe Nasr.

Jolyon, who lives in Southwater, starts as one of the title favourites after an accomplished second season in the F1 feeder series last year, which included two podiums and a victory at the showpiece Monaco event in May. Whilst pre-season testing in Spain has been badly disrupted by rain, the Carlin team ran competitively throughout and Jolyon topped the opening session in Jerez last month.

"I'm very much looking forward to Malaysia, it was a place I really liked last year although the results didn't do us justice," said Jolyon. "After pre-season testing this is where we will see exactly where everyone is performance wise, and I'm confident Carlin is looking in very good shape. The tyres will no doubt play a very interesting part to the weekend; getting the best out of them in qualifying will be crucial, but also preserving them in the races will be equally important. Now I'm just waiting to get started and preparing myself as best I can."

Full coverage of the opening GP2 weekend, including live timing, will be available on Jolyon's official website, while live TV coverage of all sessions will be available on Sky's F1 HD Channel. The first practice session gets underway at 3:55am (UK time) on Friday.