Jolyon Palmer got his Barcelona weekend off to an ideal start by setting the fastest lap in practice this morning (Friday 9 May).

Jolyon was the first driver to take to the track in the 45 minute session, and was fastest throughout. His first lap time was a 1m30.798s, putting him almost half a second clear of his nearest rival after the first round of lap times.

With his second effort, the 23-year-old improved by three tenths to set a 1m30.448s, a time which would prove to be unbeatable for the rest of the session.

Pitting with 15 minutes gone, Jolyon returned to the track with 19 minutes remaining, completing a total of 18 laps during the practice session, gaining valuable mileage ahead of qualifying which starts at 14.55 UK time.

Speaking after the session, Jolyon commented: "It was a really good session for us, the car was good from the start and everything went to plan. We did a long run in the second half as well and got good data from that. Now we are focussing on qualifying and getting the most out of the soft tyre."

Barcelona GP2 Practice Result:

1. Jolyon Palmer, DAMS, 1m30.448s
2. Felipe Nasr, Carlin, +0.203s
3. Stephane Richelmi, DAMS, +0.204s
4. Mitch Evans, Russian Time, +0.444s
5. Daniel de Jong, MP Motorsport, +0.503s
6. Stoffel Vandoorne, ART GP, +1.012s
7. Daniel Abt, Hilmer, +1.060s
8. Rio Haryanto, Caterham, +1.062s
9. Tom Dillmann, Arden, +1.076s
10. Sergio Canamasas, Trident, +1.202s