Jolyon Palmer recorded the second-fastest time in the morning session at the official in-season Formula One test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya today (Wednesday). The Third and Reserve Driver for Lotus F1 Team lapped the Spanish circuit in 1m27.439s and completed 40 laps in a 4-hour spell.

After an initial installation lap to ensure all systems were working correctly on the E23 Hybrid, running was interrupted as Sauber's Raffaele Marciello went off at turn 3 and into the barriers, causing a red flag. When the session restarted, 24-year-old Palmer began setting competitive times, with an initial lap-time of 1m29.088s putting him in fourth position at the halfway point of the morning's running.

Carrying out a controlled development plan for the team, Jolyon was in and out of the pits, before improving his time with a 1m28.963s on his 26^th lap, just 0.099s shy of Esteban Gutierrez in the podium-finishing Ferrari. With lunch approaching, the Southwater Ace headed back out on track for a longer run and improved his best time by over a second, lapping the circuit in 1:27.439s to move into second.

This put him ahead of former-World Champion Jenson Button in the McLaren and only behind the dominant Mercedes car driven by Pascal Werhlein. Jolyon's time was just 0.051s slower than his team-mate Pastor Maldonado's best lap from the first day of running at the in-season test yesterday.

The second and final day of the official in-season F1 test continues this afternoon with four further hours of running schedule from 13:00pm UK time.

Barcelona in-season F1 test, initial morning times:

1. Pascal Wehrlein, Mercedes, 1m26.641s, 73 laps
2. Jolyon Palmer, Lotus F1 Team, 1m27.439s, 40 laps
3. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1m27.486s, 46 laps
4. Esteban Gutierrez, Ferrari, 1m27.989s, 66 laps
5. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1m27.997s, 56 laps
6. Alex Lynn, Williams, 1m28.419s, 19 laps
7. Esteban Ocon, Force India, 1m29.671s, 15 laps
8. Raffaele Marciello, Sauber, 1m34.687s, 8 laps
9. Pierre Gasly, Red Bull, No time set, 22 laps