GP2 Champion Jolyon Palmer claimed his eighth front row starting position of the year in his final GP2 qualifying session today at Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi. 

Palmer was a contender for pole position throughout the 30-minute session, twice heading the time sheets despite suffering from a slight lack in straight-line speed, before being pipped by just 0.099s. 

The 23-year-old's first flying effort, a lap in 1m 48.918s, put him a quarter-of-a-second clear of the pack, and he looked on course to improve upon that before pitting. 

Returning from the pits to the track with nine minutes remaining, Palmer improved his best lap time to 1m48.187s to again take provisional pole position, but near the end of the session a late effort by Stoffel Vandoorne took pole. 

Jolyon's DAMS team-mate Stephane Richelmi was third fastest, putting the French team in a good position to claim the Teams' Championship this weekend.

Palmer commented: "It's really frustrating to be so close to pole! I felt like I did the perfect lap and the car felt really good as well.

"Unfortunately I've been losing some time in a straight line today for some reason so I think pole should have been possible. Anyway, it's a good position to start from and of course I will be pushing flat-out to win tomorrow!"

GP2 Qualifying result, Abu Dhabi

1. S Vandoorne, ART GP, 1m48.088s
2. J Palmer, DAMS, +0.099s
3. S Richelmi, DAMS, +0.286s
4. M Evans, Russian Time, +0.621s
5. F Nasr, Carlin, +0.785s
6. P Gasly, Caterham, +0.885s
7. A Pic, Campos, +0.897s
8. R Marciello, Racing Engineering, +0.935s
9. S Coletti, Racing Engineering, +1.238s
10. R Haryanto, Caterham, +1.250s