Jolyon Palmer was denied a strong finish in this afternoon's (Saturday) GP2 Feature Race at Monza when a wheel came loose shortly after his compulsory pit stop.

Starting from third on the grid, Jolyon was beaten off the line by Marcus Ericsson and emerged from the first corner securely in fourth position. Jolyon refused to let Ericsson out of his sight and the pair's dice for third closely followed the leading duo of Fabio Leimer and Sam Bird. On the first flying lap of the race each of the top three set a purple sector, however it was Jolyon who was consistently fastest throughout the lap setting a quicker laptime than all of them.

By the start of the fourth lap, the top four drivers were beginning to put a noticeable gap on the rest of the field, Jolyon remaining firmly glued to Marcus Ericsson's tail. The following lap Jolyon set a purple first sector as he continued to harass the leading trio.

Ericsson pitted on lap eight, lifting Jolyon into the podium positions and freeing him up to chase Bird and Leimer. He immediately responded by setting another purple first sector at the start of lap nine. Jolyon made his own stop from third on the eleventh lap of the race, it to be mostly clean apart from a minor delay with the left rear wheel and he emerged from the pits behind Ericsson.

Unfortunately upon re-emerging from the pits, the left rear wheel wasn't fully attached and it fell loose at the Lesmo Bends forcing an early retirement.

Speaking after the race Jolyon commented, "I'm very disappointed with that. I was looking strong and should have at least a podium but unfortunately lost the rear left after my stop. It's a real disappointment and more bad luck but these things do happen from time to time. Now we have a challenge tomorrow to do something starting from the back".

GP2 Feature Race, Monza
1, F Leimer, Racing Engineering, 30 Laps
2, S Bird, Russian Time, +0.8s
3, T Dillmann, Russian Time, +6.1s
4, S Richelmi, DAMS, +9.9s
5, J Leal, Racing Engineering, +15.4s
6, J Calado, ART Grand Prix, +18.7s
7, A Quaife-Hobbs, Hilmer Motorsport, +24.0s
8, A Rossi, Caterham Racing, +30.2s
9, S Canamasas, Caterham Racing, +40.2s
DNF, J Palmer, Carlin

Full coverage of rounds 17 and 18 of the 2013 GP2 season at Monza, including live timing, will be available on Jolyon's official website, while TV coverage of all sessions will be available on Sky F1's HD Channel.