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Current GP2 Series leader Jolyon Palmer set the fastest time in free practice ahead of round two at Barcelona on Friday morning.

The DAMS driver immediately hit the top of the timesheets with a time of 1m30.798s which he then whittled down to 1m30.448s on the sixth lap during his first stint.

With the field embarking upon longer runs in the second half of the session, Palmer's early benchmark time remained unbeaten until the chequered flag.

Felipe Nasr and Stephane Richelmi finished 0.2 seconds behind the pacesetting Briton and just 0.001s separated the duo in second and third respectively.

Mitch Evans occupied fourth for the entire session and it looked as though Stoffel Vandoorne would be fifth quickest before Daniel de Jong demoted him in the closing minutes.

The McLaren starlet finished ahead of Daniel Abt and Rio Haryanto, while GP2 returnee Tom Dillmann got up to speed for Arden in claiming ninth.

Sergio Canamasas, who replaces Axcil Jefferies at Trident this weekend, rounded off the top 10 with a time of 1m31.650s, 1.2 seconds off the ultimate pace.

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Jolyon Palmer DAMS 1m30.448s 19 2. Felipe Nasr Carlin 1m30.651s +0.203s 15 3. Stephane Richelmi DAMS 1m30.652s +0.204s 17 4. Mitch Evans Russian Time 1m30.892s +0.444s 17 5. Daniel de Jong MP 1m30.951s +0.503s 15 6. Stoffel Vandoorne ART 1m31.460s +1.012s 20 7. Daniel Abt Hilmer 1m31.508s +1.060s 17 8. Rio Haryanto Caterham 1m31.510s +1.062s 18 9. Tom Dillmann Arden 1m31.524s +1.076s 15 10. Sergio Canamasas Trident 1m31.650s +1.202s 16 11. Stefano Coletti Racing Engineering 1m31.657s +1.209s 14 12. Nathanael Berthon Lazarus 1m31.666s +1.218s 16 13. Johnny Cecotto Trident 1m31.813s +1.365s 19 14. Arthur Pic Campos 1m31.854s +1.406s 16 15. Conor Daly Lazarus 1m31.901s +1.453s 7 16. Tio Ellinas MP 1m31.905s +1.457s 19 17. Kimiya Sato Campos 1m31.912s +1.464s 17 18. Simon Trummer Rapax 1m32.087s +1.639s 16 19. Julian Leal Carlin 1m32.128s +1.680s 18 20. Alexander Rossi Caterham 1m32.159s +1.711s 19 21. Facu Regalia Hilmer 1m32.398s +1.950s 18 22. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs Rapax 1m32.560s +2.112s 14 23. Rene Binder Arden 1m32.566s +2.118s 17 24. Raffaele Marciello Racing Engineering 1m32.640s +2.192s 17 25. Artem Markelov Russian Time 1m32.784s +2.336s 16 26. Takuya Izawa ART 1m32.791s +2.343s 18