Jolyon Palmer has surged into the lead of the GP2 Championship after storming to victory in the GP2 Sprint Race in Bahrain this afternoon (Sunday).

A superb start from Jolyon elevated him from sixth on the grid to second at turn one, and he immediately applied pressure to leader Simon Trummer. Crossing the line to start lap two, Jolyon was tucked under his rear wing and made the move for the lead at turn one.

Jolyon then held the lead for the remaining 22 laps, controlling the race and maintaining a small gap to Trummer behind. Trummer looked to close in the final stages but was never near enough to mount a serious challenge.

Speaking on the podium after the race, Jolyon enthused: "Yesterday was first to sixth in one lap and now it's sixth to first! We definitely made up for yesterday and I'm absolutely delighted.

"We did a lot of homework overnight on the starts and on tyre degredation and I think we nailed them both.

"After the start it was just a case of managing the race and I had the two guys behind me and it wasn't easy, but I'm really happy with the job we have done.

"The car feels great. On qualifying pace we are there and we showed that in pre season testing also. I was surprised yesterday that we didn't quite have the race pace but today I think we've proved we've found a big step and hopefully now we'll be very strong for the European season."

Jolyon holds a 10 point lead at the top of the GP2 standings, after a win and a podium from the opening race weekend of the season. Jolyon also secured four points for pole position, and also claimed the fastest race lap points in both races after an exceptional weekend performance.

GP2 Sprint Race result:

1. J Palmer, DAMS, 23 laps
2. S Trummer, Rapax, +0.8s
3. J Leal, Carlin, +1.4s
4. F Nasr, Carlin, +8.7s
5. S Richelmi, DAMS, +16.4s
6. A Quaife Hobbs, Rapax, +17.6s
7. M Evans, Russian Time, +18.0s
8. R Binder, Arden, +19.7s
9. A Pic, Campos, +19.9s
10. A Markelov, Russian Time, +20.6s

GP2 Championship standings:

1. J Palmer, DAMS, 38 points
2. J Leal, Carlin, 28
3. S Vandoorne, ART GP, 25
4. S Trummer, Rapax, 18
5. F Nasr, Carlin, 12
6. S Coletti, Racing, 12