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Jolyon Palmer Q&A

2011 was your rookie year in GP2, how did you find it and what did you learn?
I would describe my first year in GP2 as a solid learning year. Ultimately I was disappointed with some of the results, however at times I had the pace to be running in the points and was undone by some bad luck, such as Imola where I had a problem in my pit stop when running fifth, or at Nűrburgring where I was innocently taken out whilst fighting for sixth. In GP2 experience is essential as there are plenty of experienced drivers and not a lot of track time to get up to speed with the car and circuits, so a rookie season is always going to be difficult but you just have to learn from the experiences and put them to use for this year.

You recently announced that in 2012 you'll be driving for iSport; what made you opt for the British squad?
iSport are a well established front-running team and have won the title before and a number of their drivers have made it into F1. I have driven for them before, doing two days testing at the end of 2010 and another day at the end of last year, so I know the team already and have a good working relationship with them. I felt it was also very important for me to have an experienced and highly rated team mate this season. Marcus Ericsson will be in his third year of GP2 and his second with iSport. As GP2 is so competitive, it is important for the drivers to work together and I'm confident we can do that and have a good atmosphere in the team.

What are your goals for the season ahead?
My goal for this year is firstly to be consistently scoring points and then end up in the top three in the championship. It is a tough challenge as there are always top quality drivers in GP2, however with a year's experience under my belt and with a top team I think it is achievable.

The new, extended 2012 GP2 calendar was recently unveiled, what do you make of it?
I'm extremely excited by the new GP2 calendar. It certainly made sense to merge the main series with the Asia series and it is exciting going to new circuits such as Malaysia and Singapore. It is a shame Abu Dhabi is not on it at all for this year, having taken a podium there in the finals last year, and having two races in Bahrain is not ideal but I didn't race there at all last year in the end so it is still going to be a new challenge.

What have you been doing to prepare for the forthcoming season?
Over the winter I have been working hard on my fitness and I'm well into a diet regime now to get myself down to my optimum weight for the first test of the season at the end of February. It was nice to get a deal sorted out before Christmas so I can spend more time preparing with the team before the start of the season.

And finally, driving in GP2 can be very intense so how do you like to relax away from the track?
At the moment I'm studying at Nottingham University which I finish in the summer so a lot of my free time is taken up by that. Apart from that, I spend most of my spare time catching up with friends or just chilling out with my family.

The 2012 GP2 season gets underway at Sepang, Malaysia, on 23-25 March. Prior to that, Jolyon will take part in pre-season testing which takes place in Jerez from 28 February to 1 March and Barcelona from 6 to 8 March.

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