Drive of his life hands Jolyon a stunning Singapore success

The 22-year-old was the man to beat in Singapore all weekend, setting the fastest lap in practice before following that up with his maiden GP2 pole position in qualifying.

From pole, he suffered a slow start, but fought back brilliantly to catch and pass team mate Felipe Nasr in the closing stages, despite being over 13 seconds behind him mid race.

After passing his team mate with four laps to go, he then blasted into the distance to take victory by 13 seconds, with Nasr coming home second to make it a Carlin one-two.

Jolyon’s victory also makes it two wins in two consecutive weekends for the Palmer family, with brother Will securing his first Ginetta Junior triumph at Rockingham last weekend.

Speaking after the race an elated Jolyon said: “I didn’t make it easy for myself! At the start I got anti stall and dropped to fourth or fifth. It was crucial to make the early passes so I could chase Felipe. I think that was one of the drives of my life and it’s definitely been the weekend of my life.

“It’s always tough with the tyres and the temperatures were really hot so it was always going to be tough.

“We decided just to change the rears and did the full 28 laps on the same front tyres. I enjoy this style of racing but it’s always on your mind to save the tyres. I think chasing Felipe down from 13 seconds behind was a real challenge but I was very relieved to pass him!”

The following day Jolyon enjoyed less success as he finished 17th in the Sprint Race after racing on less favourable tyres due to his selection in Saturday’s race.

Still Jolyon ended the weekend as the highest points scorer and is now up to eighth in the drivers’ standings.