Jolyon Palmer took his ninth GP2 podium of the season at the challenging Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium this morning (Sunday), starting and finishing the 18-lap race in third position, to maintain his strong championship points lead.

From third on the grid, Palmer held position on the run to La Source hairpin and then moved into second with a move around the outside of Daniel Abt at Les Combes corner. On the next lap Johnny Cecotto was able to move past Palmer, returning him to third.

Jolyon kept the leading duo of Felipe Nasr and Cecotto within his sights for much of the race, the gap constantly under three seconds, but by the latter stages Jolyon knew the handling imbalance with his car meant he would have to accept third place, holding off the chasing Mitch Evans.

Palmer commented: "On Friday we were really strong, and then we've had two really tough races. Today I struggled a lot with the balance - we had too much understeer, so lacked pace and damaged the tyres.

"It's been a disappointing weekend, but even on a disappointing weekend, we're still on the podium. Felipe [Nasr] has shown there is still a fight on for the title and we will come back strong at Monza."

Jolyon holds a 32 point championship lead over Felipe Nasr, with six races remaining this season.

GP2 Sprint Race, Spa Francorchamps result:

1. F Nasr, Carlin, 18 laps
2. J Cecotto, Trident, +5.1s
3. J Palmer, DAMS, +7.1s
4. M Evans, Russian Time, +7.5s
5. D Abt, Hilmer, +10.0s
6. S Vandoorne, ART GP, +10.6s
7. S Coletti, Racing Engineering, +14.0s
8. A Negrao, Arden, +20.3s
9. T Dillmann, Caterham, +21.6s
10. J Leal, Carlin, +22.4s