Jolyon Palmer claimed a sixth place finish in the GP2 Sprint Race at the Red Bull Ring in Austria this morning (Sunday). Palmer said he was disappointed with the result, but even so he has extended his GP2 points lead this weekend. Hi closest title rival, Felipe Nasr, retired early on in today's race.

Palmer started fourth on the grid but was delayed off the line by the slow starting Mitch Evans immediately in front of him, falling to seventh on the first lap before fighting back to sixth.

Evans' idifficulty getting away from the line looked set to benefit Jolyon, but the New Zealander squeezed Palmer towards the pit wall, forcing the Briton to take avoiding action and shuffling him back into the pack on the run down to turn one.

Jolyon ran sixth at the end of the first lap, and tried to pass Evans on lap three around the outside of turns two, three and five, with the Russian Time driver holding firm.

Palmer was passed by Julian Leal on lap five and Jolyon dropped back, crossing the line 2.4s behind the Carlin driver.

Showing his fighting qualities, Jolyon set a string of laps within the 1m16s bracket to close down on Leal, and run within half a second of him for several laps, with the pair joining a string of cars behind a struggling Alexander Rossi. Palmer was the fastest driver on track mid-race, and looked set to claim the bonus points for fastest lap until race winner Johnny Cecotto edged his time on lap 22.

An audacious move by Jolyon at turn six on lap 19 looked set to give him sixth place, but Leal immediately fought back, passing Palmer at the final corner. Jolyon fought back though and made a decisive move stick at turn two on lap 20.

From there Jolyon set about closing down on Rossi, getting to within half a second of the American before the chequered flag fell. Palmer's sixth place gives him four more championship points.

Jolyon commented: "I got boxed in at the start and lost a lot of positions. Afterwards I wasn't very quick in the opening few laps but then I managed to pull in the gap and pass Leal for sixth. I couldn't do any more though as I got stuck behind Rossi and had to settle for sixth.

"It's been a disappointing weekend in terms of results considering where we started but the pace was strong and there are definitely positives to take away."

GP2 Series, Sprint Race, Austria result:

1. J Cecotto, Trident, 28 laps
2. S Coletti, Racing Engineering, +0.7s
3. R Marciello, Racing Engineering, +6.8s
4. M Evans, Russian Time, +7.1s
5. A Rossi, Caterham, +7.9s
6. J Palmer, DAMS, +8.8s
7. J Leal, Carlin, +9.3s
8. T Izawa, ART GP, +19.4s
9. S Canamasas, Caterham, +26.7s
10. S Richelmi, DAMS, +27.0s