Jolyon Palmer set the fastest time in GP2 practice on the streets of Monaco this morning, with a lap of 1m20.707s late in the session set on the super soft tyre.

Jolyon figured at the front of the session throughout, with his first serious effort of a 1m24.280s putting him top early on. The 23-year-old pitted with 12 minutes of the session elapsed, returning to the track with 29 minutes remaining to improve his time to a 1m22.320s, good enough for fourth at that time.

A red flag with 17 minutes remaining, caused by a crash at the chicane by Jolyon's former team mate Felipe Nasr saw all the cars return to the pits, during which time the DAMS put the super soft Pirelli tyre onto Palmer's car. The session resumed with 14 minutes remaining and Jolyon set overall best times in all three sectors of the lap to improve his time to a 1m20.707s, and going 0.8s clear of the field.

The time proved to be unbeatable for the rest of the session, with Johnny Cecotto the only man to get within half a second of Jolyon at the end of the session, with his quickest time 0.336s off Jolyon's best.

Qualifying in Monaco takes place at 3.15PM UK time, with a unique split format to counter the traffic issues faced on the tight street circuit. Jolyon will be in the first group of 13 drivers, meaning he will hit the track at 15.15.

Speaking after the session, Jolyon commented: "I managed to get a good clear lap in at the end to go top which is very promising. The car felt really good so I'm feeling confident for the weekend. It's rained really hard now though so it could be all change for qualifying later!"

GP2 Monaco Practice result:

1. Jolyon Palmer, DAMS, 1m20.707s
2. Johnny Cecotto, Trident, +0.336s
3. Stephane Richelmi, DAMS, +0.866s
4. Stefano Coletti, Racing Engineering, +1.195s
5. Mitch Evans, Russian Time, +1.222s
6. Sergio Canamasas, Trident, +1.226s
7. Rio Haryanto, Caterham, +1.228s
8. Felipe Nasr, Carlin, +1.242s
9. Julian Leal, Carlin, +1.425s
10. Alexander Rossi, Caterham, +1.476s