Jolyon Palmer set the eighth fastest time in the opening GP2 free practice session of the 2014 season at the Bahrain International Circuit.

GP2 practice sessions have been extended by 15 minutes for this season, though Jolyon elected to conduct a single installation lap in the opening stages before going sixth with his first proper lap, a 1m42.916s, with 20 minutes gone. His second lap lifted him to fifth on his DAMS debut before pitting with 15 minutes remaining.

Returning to the track with eight minutes of the session left, he improved to a 1m42.533s which put him eighth fastest after improvements from other drivers lifted them above the 23-year-old Briton.

Any chances of further increases in pace were squandered with just under two minutes remaining when the red flags were flown with the MP Motorsport car of Daniel De Jong stranded out on the circuit.

Qualifying takes place at 6pm this evening (Friday) UK time under the floodlights with the first race taking place tomorrow at 11.10am.

Speaking after the session Jolyon commented: "It was a difficult session because the track was extremely dusty and there was no grip. I didn't put in a great lap and we ended up eighth, less than half a second off the pace.

"Now we have a big wait until qualifying under the lights, where the track will be much faster. We will also have option tyres so everything will be different."

Bahrain GP2 Free Practice

1. M Evans, RUSSIAN TIME, 1m42.062s
2. S Vandoorne, ART GP, +0.062s
3. R Marciello, Racing Engineering, +0.207s
4. D Abt, Hilmer, +0.257s
5. S Richelmi, DAMS, +0.311s
6. R Haryanto, Caterham, +0.326s
7. A Nergrao, Arden, +0.445s
8. J Palmer, DAMS, +0.471s
9. S Trummer, Rapax, +0.491s
10. C Daly, Venezuela, +0.512s

Full coverage of rounds 1 and 2 of the 2014 GP2 season in Bahrain, including live timing, will be available on Jolyon's official website www.jolyonpalmer.com, while TV coverage of all sessions will be available on Sky F1's HD channel.