Jolyon Palmer will make his debut for the Lotus F1 Team at this week's official Formula One pre-season test in Barcelona. The 2014 GP2 Series Champion will drive the E23 on Friday (20 February), the second of four days of testing at the Spanish circuit.

The first day of running for the team, Thursday, will be handled by Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado who returns to the cockpit on Saturday before the final day sees Romain Grosjean take over testing duties.

Palmer secured the Lotus F1 third driver role following a record-breaking 2014 season during which he became the first British driver to win the GP2 championship since two-time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton, scoring the greatest amount of points in a season (276) in series history.

The 24-year-old has already experienced Formula One power, having taken part in the end-of-season test in Abu Dhabi for the Force India team last year. He made a very competitive F1 debut, completing 37 laps of the Yas Marina circuit and posting the fourth fastest time of the day, just 0.004s behind 2014 championship runner-up Nico Rosberg.

Jolyon will attend all Grands Prix races and F1 tests in his Lotus F1 role throughout the 2015 season and will drive in a significant number of Free Practice 1 sessions. He will also contribute to the car's development during the season and will fulfil the role of Reserve Driver.

Jolyon prepared for his Lotus F1 debut by completing his seat-fitting at the team's factory in Enstone, Oxfordshire, earlier this week.