ALEX Lynn proved to be a model of consistency around the streets of Monaco as he picked up valuable championship points with two top-five finishes at the GP2 Series' most glamorous weekend of the year.

The 22-year-old racing driver from Dunmow near Braintree came away from the Monaco rounds sitting third in the overall series standings as he posted a pair of mature drives around the principality's twisting street circuit.

Lynn, who is also development driver for the Williams Martini Racing Formula One team, is among the favourites to claim the GP2 Series crown this year.

And while some of his title rivals left Monaco without taking a single point, the Essex man showed how important it is to be consistent throughout the campaign.

He was unable to match the superb sprint race win that he had in the previous round in Barcelona, but finishes of fourth in the feature race and fifth in the second day's sprint event earned him a healthy points haul.

It was in contrast to his performance at the same location in his rookie season last year as Lynn came away from Monaco without a point and was another example of the progress made over the last 12 months.

Having been handed a tough time slot in the congested qualifying session, Lynn was only able to place his DAMS Racing car sixth on the grid for the opening feature race and he quickly lost that at the run to the first corner.

Antonio Giovinazzi made use of his super soft compound tyres to get past the Essex driver, who dropped back to seventh, but it was short-lived as the Italian headed into the pits for his compulsory tyre switch.

That allowed Lynn, now back up to sixth, to head off in pursuit of Oliver Rowland and Mitch Evans ahead of him as the long-run pace of the DAMS car came into its own.

As other drivers made errors ahead of him and dropped out of the race, Lynn moved up to third and it looked as though he would claim a coveted Monaco podium.

However, a controversial ending to the race dropped him back to fourth at the chequered flag.

A series of virtual safety car periods in the final laps played into the hands of Russian Time's Artem Markelov after several drivers had mishaps in the latter stages.

Instead of dropping back to a mid-pack position as was expected when he made a late pit stop, the delays allowed Markelov to come out at the head of the race, take the win and push Lynn out of the top three.

It was still a solid points haul for the Essex driver, though, and placed him fifth on the grid for the following day's sprint race.

In a much more straightforward race, the top five places stayed as they were throughout the 30 laps and Lynn came home where he started to claim more valuable points ahead of the third round in Baku in three weeks.