Jolyon Palmer stormed from 26th on the grid to take a fighting eighth place in the GP2 Feature Race at Monza this afternoon (Saturday), securing reverse-grid pole for tomorrow's Sprint Race. By also scoring points for setting the race's fastest lap, Palmer ensured that his championship lead was trimmed by just two points. His nearest title rival, Felipe Nasr, finished the race sixth.

Despite qualifying fourth for today's race, Palmer was forced to start from the back of the back of the grid after his DAMS car was found to have less than the mandatory one litre of fuel at the end of qualifying. But a stunning sequence of opening laps, and superb pace on harder tyres in his first stint, meant that Jolyon was running inside the top-10 after the pit stops, and was able to use his new tyres well to make late-race passing moves to secure eighth.

Making a strong start, Jolyon gained a handful of positions on the run to the tight first chicane and was up to 20th at the end of the first lap. Skilfully avoiding a melee at the first chicane on lap two, Jolyon gained five more places and was already up to 15th by the end of the second tour. After holding this position for a few laps, Jolyon began to move further up the order as drivers pitted, moving into 11th place with an excellent move around the outside of Rio Haryanto at the first chicane on lap 10.

With further pit stops taking place, Jolyon - going for a longer stint on the harder tyres - was up to fourth on lap 14, and moved into the top three on lap 18. Despite ageing tyres, Jolyon was still lapping quicker than those on fresher rubber, which was to prove crucial after his pit stop.

Palmer made his mandatory pit stop on lap 20 and returned to the track in 10th, just ahead of Johnny Cecotto and behind a battle for position between Julian Leal and Stefano Coletti. Cecotto attacked but Jolyon  defended successfully, then set about closing on Leal, who he passed for ninth on lap 23 with another strong move on the outside of the first chicane.

Now running in relatively clear air, Jolyon set a string of fastest race laps to secure the two additional bonus points. He quickly closed in on Coletti and was able to move past him into eighth on the exit of the second chicane with four laps remaining.

Still running faster than Nasr and Marco Sorensen in front, Jolyon closed down a gap of more than two seconds to finish just 0.5s behind Sorensen at the flag, securing a valuable pole position for tomorrow's Sprint Race. 

Jolyon commented: "I'm so happy with that! To come from 26th and finish 8th is amazing and it gives me pole for tomorrow! It's been an unbelievable turn around from the whole team and we really put the disappointment from yesterday behind us. The car was good all race and I picked up fastest lap as well which is nice. Now it will be a bit different starting from pole tomorrow but clearly the aim is to win and complete an amazing turnaround." 

Monza GP2 Feature Race result:

1. S Vandoorne, ART GP. 30 laps
2. A Pic, Campos, +0.6s
3. M Evans, Russian Time, +4.1s
4. S Richelmi, DAMS, +9.5s
5. A Negrao, Arden, +11.1s
6. F Nasr, Carlin, +11.6s
7. M Sorensen, MP Motorsport, +14.4s
8. J Palmer, DAMS, +15.0s
9. S Coletti, Racing Engineering, +16.7s
10. J Cecotto, Trident, +17.1s