Jolyon Palmer set the fastest time in GP2 free practice on the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore this morning (20 September), ahead of qualifying this afternoon.

On a circuit he was very quick at last year, Jolyon again demonstrated his speed to set the fastest time in practice for the second event in succession, and did it in dominant style.

Initially running in third, the 22-year-old Carlin driver shot to the top of the times after his third run, setting the quickest time in all three sectors of the 3.14 mile street circuit to go a full second faster than his nearest rivals at the time, setting a lap of 1m56.602s.

He went even faster on his sixth run to set a time of 1m55.912s, and was the only man throughout the session to go below 1m56s.

Fabio Leimer closed the gap at the end of the session to 0.253s, but realistically Jolyon was unchallenged at the top throughout the 30 minute period.

Thanks in part to the removal of the turn 10 chicane, Jolyon's time was 3.532s quicker than last year's pole time.

The practice session was held during daylight, the same conditions in which both races will be held, however the qualifying session, which takes place at 1pm UK time, will take place at night under floodlights.

Speaking after the session, Jolyon enthused: "All round it was a very good session. The car felt good straight away and I was on the pace and was able to chip away at it a bit more. I felt pretty comfortable really, we need to try and keep this up on the option tyres in qualifying now.  
 
"Street circuits are good for me, both here and Monaco have brought me good results before. I don't think we'll change much before qualifying, we've just got to try and get the most out of the option tyre. Changing to a different tyre moves the bar to be honest, but we should certainly be in the fight for pole."

Singapore GP2 free practice result

1. Jolyon Palmer, Carlin, 1m55.912s
2. Fabio Leimer, Racing Engineering, +0.253s
3. Marcus Ericsson, DAMS, +0.597s
4. Alexander Rossi, Caterham, +0.846s
5. Mitch Evans, Arden, +0.973s
6. James Calado, ART, +1.155s
7. Sam Bird, RUSSIAN TIME, +1.177s
8. Felipe Nasr, Carlin, +1.177s
9. Johnny Cecotto, Arden, +1.385s
10. Stephane Richelmi, DAMS, +1.843s

Full coverage of rounds 19 and 20 of the 2013 GP2 season in Singapore, 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.