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Jolyon records fifth fastest overall time at Jerez

Jolyon Palmer made an excellent start to his 2012 campaign by finishing fifth fastest overall during this week's three day GP2 test at Jerez, Spain.

The 21-year-old, driving for British team iSport, made a storming start on day one by recording the 3rd fastest time in the morning, a position he retained throughout the day. "We managed to get through some set up work which was productive and in the end I was third quickest, which is a good way to start the year," said Jolyon afterwards. "In the afternoon we made more progress with the set up but unfortunately I had bad traffic on new tyres, so my best time was set on old tyres, but overall I'm very happy and confident with the pace."

On day two, Jolyon improved on his fastest time from the previous day before concentrating on long runs in the afternoon. He ended fifth fastest overall out of 26 drivers.

The third and final day proved to be a frustrating one with Jolyon's morning session compromised by a lengthy delay to repair a damaged track kerb. When the session did resume, an hour later, there were a further three red flags in quick succession as a number of drivers made trips to the gravel, preventing Jolyon from recording a representative time. "This morning was very frustrating," said Jolyon afterwards, "we were caught out by numerous red flags and a lot of traffic so I struggled to get a decent lap in. In the afternoon though we did another very strong race run which was more positive."

Summing up his the pre-season test Jolyon said: "We had a productive test this week in Jerez. I managed to put in very competitive times throughout the test and the car felt good. We got through all our tests and changes and managed a couple of full race simulations which were excellent. For Barcelona we have a very similar plan, trying out new set up tweaks and continuing to focus on long runs as well in preparation for Malaysia. Hopefully we can continue our short run pace and be towards the top of the timesheets again."

Jolyon returns to Spain on 6-8 March for a further three days of GP2 testing in preparation for the opening rounds in Malaysia later this month. Full coverage of the test will be available on Jolyon's official website.

GP2 test, Jerez, overall combined results:

1. D Valsecchi, DAMS 1:24.783s
2. E Gutierrez, Lotus GP +0.410s
3. M Chilton, Carlin +0.511s
4. S Coletti, Scuderia +0.575s
5. J Palmer, iSport +0.576s
6. M Ericsson, iSport +0.591s
7. D Clos, Rapax +0.684s
8. F Onidi, Scuderia +0.722s
9. J Calado, Lotus GP +0.786s
10. G VD Garde, Caterham +0.959s

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