Jolyon Palmer has stormed to his maiden GP2 pole position with a scintillating performance in the night time qualifying session at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore.

Following up on his fastest time in free practice, Jolyon was again a quarter of a second faster than his rivals as he powered his Carlin team to a front row lockout under the floodlights.

Jolyon's time, a 1m53.600s, was set with six minutes remaining in the session, and pole position also means Jolyon has claimed an additional four points in the driver's championship.

Palmer ran third initially, but a lengthy yellow flag period meant improvements weren't possible for several minutes. Jolyon took the opportunity to pit for fresh rubber, and returned to the track, only to be forced into aborting his lap when the red flags flew for separate incidents for Daniel Abt and newcomer Gianmarco Raimondo.

Unfazed by other people's dramas though, Jolyon showed a cool head and set a time with six minutes remaining that proved unbeatable.

The Feature Race will take place tomorrow morning at 9.50am tomorrow morning (Saturday).

Speaking afterwards, a delighted Jolyon enthused: "I was caught out by yellow flags a bit in my first run, so we pitted early with the aim being to get a clear space, but then the red flag came out. When the track went green again I put in a good lap without traffic, it was really hooked up and it feels amazing to get my first GP2 pole. Now the focus is on the race, getting a good start and making the most of this pole position."

GP2 Series, Singapore qualifying result

1. Jolyon Palmer, Carlin, 1m53.600s
2. Felipe Nasr, Carlin, +0.253s
3. Fabio Leimer, Racing Engineering, +0.270s
4. Alexander Rossi, Caterham, +0.685s
5. Stephane Richelmi, DAMS, +0.803s
6. Tom Dillmann, RUSSIAN TIME, +1.095s
7. Sergio Canamasas, Caterham, +1.212s
8. James Calado, ART, +1.222s
9. Marcus Ericsson, DAMS, +1.387s
10. Sam Bird, RUSSIAN TIME, +1.563s

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.