Jolyon Palmer battled to second place in the GP2 Sprint Race in Budapest this morning (Sunday) to claim his eighth podium finish of the season and extend his advantage over championship rival Felipe Nasr to 43 points.

Starting fifth on the grid, Jolyon was elbowed down to sixth on the run to turn one, but fought back immediately by passing race one winner Arthur Pic at turn three to retake fifth. He moved up to fourth at turn one on lap two, squeezing past Daniel Abt, before chasing down and passing Nathanael Berthon for third at turn three on lap five.

Next in Jolyon's sights was title rival Felipe Nasr, who defended his position strongly, but on the seventh lap Jolyon succeeded in passing the Carlin driver with a strong move at turn one. 

Lap by lap, Palmer consistently pulled out a small margin over Nasr, who was forced to defend from Berthon. Jolyon gradually closed on race leader Stoffel Vandoorne, before crossing the line second to extend his championship lead once again.

Palmer commented: "It was a really good race for  me. The start wasn't great but the tyres came in really quickly and I managed to pick my way through into second. I passed a few people very fairly but unfortunately Nasr was the most aggresive of them all. I went up the inside and he squeezed me in the braking zone all the way to the inside and it was really tight.

"After that it was a good race, although Stoffel unfortunately was too quick in the end as I was struggling a little with the left front [tyre] because we had to use it in free practice after I was run into. That meant I couldn't fight for the win, but I'm happy with second." 

Palmer now has 192 points in the GP2 Championship with Nasr on 149. After a four-week summer break, the series resumes at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium on 22-24 August.

GP2 Hungary Sprint Race result:

1. S Vandoorne, ART GP, 28 laps
2. J Palmer, DAMS, +3.3s
3. F Nasr, Carlin, +4.2s
4. N Berthon, Venezuela, +17.2s
5. D Abt, Hilmer, +17.7s
6. A Pic, Campos, +25.3s
7. C Daly, Venezuela, +26.8s
8. A Quaife-Hobbs, Rapax, +31.7s
9. R Marciello, Racing Engineering, +34.7s
10. M Evans, Russian, +38.9s