Jolyon Palmer is ready for this weekend's Race of Champions event, which is being held at London's former Olympic Stadium, following his first experience of the pursuit-style track in Thursday practice. The Southwater racer will be in action in tonight's (Friday) Race of Champions Nations Cup, as he partners up with 2015 DTM Champion Pascal Wehrlein for Team Young Stars.

The current Lotus F1 Team Third and Reserve Driver will take on six-time Olympic cycling gold medallist Sir Chris Hoy in the opening round of the Nations Cup, which pits a total of 20 drivers in 10 teams against each other. Each match is a best-of-three contest, with the two winning drivers from the first two heats racing in an additional round if required. Wehrlein will take on Jolyon's fellow Lotus F1 Team driver Romain Grosjean and, if the pair progress through that match, they will face either Team England 1 or Team Brazil with Jolyon taking on Touring Car driver Jason Plato or F1 race winner Felipe Massa.

On Saturday, Jolyon will compete in the individual Race of Champions competition, where he will take on 2015 Blancpain Endurance Champion Alex Buncombe in the first round. Once the overall winner is found and declared 'Champion of Champions', the assembled 20 drivers will take part in a unique karting event to close the Race of Champions weekend.

Jolyon said: "Barbados was great fun last year and it was a good challenge as well - the first time is always a bit of an eye-opener. That was actually my last real race too, so it's been a while. Of course we don't overtake anyone on this track but you get the competitive feeling I've been missing this year. So it will be good to get out there, hopefully knock some people out and progress."

He continued: "It's a great fun event with a good friendly atmosphere but everyone's quite keen to win as well. On this new pursuit track you're definitely aware of the other car from the moment you get out. As you go through the checkpoints, if you're down you throw caution to the wind, if you're up you just make sure you bring it home."

You can follow Jolyon's progress in both the Race of Champions and the Nations Cup with updates on his official website and Facebook page here.