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Jolyon finishes 18th in Barcelona race one

British racer Jolyon Palmer battled hard during today's (Saturday) GP2 Feature Race in Barcelona to finish 18th.

The 20-year-old rookie, who secured an impressive top 10 finish last time out in Turkey, drove with maturity during a difficult race at the 4.655km Circuit de Catalunya track which saw two safety car periods.

Following yesterday's qualifying session, Jolyon lined up on the start grid in P22 as the race got underway. During a frantic opening lap, the Arden International racer did well to avoid being caught up in on-track incidents which resulted in the first of two safety car interventions, the first to recover the damaged car of Luca Filippi.

When racing resumed on lap six, Jolyon was still running just outside the top 20 chasing down fellow rookie Pal Varhaug. With Jolyon unable to pass Varhaug, the West Sussex racer chose to gamble on a two stop strategy, pitting early and rejoining at the back of the pack.

As the rest of the field started to make their pit stops, Jolyon began to regain places considerably, climbing into the midfield before taking his second stop.

However, he was caught out by a second safety car period, this time following contact between Esteban Gutierrez and Michael Herck, hampering his progress. Despite this, Jolyon pushed hard making up several places during the final few laps to cross the line 19th. He was then promoted to 18th following the exclusion of Romain Grosjean.

Speaking after the race Jolyon, son of former Formula One racer Jonathan, said: "That was a disappointing race where we decided to take a bit of a risk and opt for a two stop strategy. After a bad start I stopped early on and had good pace to jump up the order considerably. However, we were caught out by both safety cars because it meant tyre degradation wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. After the second stop we were at the back and I managed a few good moves to pass four cars and then tried to pass Aleshin on the last lap and got forced wide so lost one of the places I had gained."

Barwa Addax racer Charles Pic secured the win with Giedo Van Der Garde and Sam Bird finishing second and third respectively.

The result will now see Jolyon start 18th on the grid for tomorrow's sprint race which starts at 09:35 (GMT+1).

Barcelona GP2 Race One results:

1. C Pic, Barwa Addax, 34 laps
2. G Van Der Garde, Barwa Addax, +1.444s
3. S Bird, iSport, 2.773s
4. R Grosjean, DAMS, +7.958s
5. D Valsecchi, AirAsia, +10.011s
6. M Ericsson, iSport, 10.518s
7. D Clos, Racing Engineering, +16.534s
8. J Bianchi, Lotus ART, +16.979s
9. F Leimer, Rapax, +17.419s
18. J Palmer, Arden International, +38.723s

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