Palmer quickest in final F2 test

Palmer's effort of 1m36.576s saw him leapfrog Dean Stoneman late in the session, after the Briton looked set to finish on top.

A series of blistering lap close to the end of the day saw Palmer complete a strong winter of testing, having also topped the times at the Snetterton test.

"It has been another really good day and this one is probably more important being as we have an event here at the weekend," said Palmer. "Having topped three of the four sessions today, I am certainly more confident this year and I am pushing a lot harder.

"I really want to win this weekend now and I think it's possible. Prior to pre-season I would have been happy getting a few podiums but now I feel I can aim higher than that."

Johan Jokinen, Philipp Eng and Will Bratt completed the top five ahead of the start of the season this weekend.

Overall combined times:

Pos Driver                Time/Gap
 1. Jolyon Palmer          1:36.576                     
 2. Dean Stoneman          + 0.113                       
 3. Johan Jokinen          + 0.451                       
 4. Philipp Eng            + 0.622                       
 5. Will Bratt             + 0.737                       
 6. Tom Gladdis            + 0.759                       
 7. Jack Clarke            + 0.968                       
 8. Nicola De Marco        + 0.992                       
 9. Sergey Afanasiev       + 1.028                       
10. Mihai Marinescu        + 1.113