Today was the first day of term for the new and old boys of the Cooper Tires British F3 International Series as the pre-season testing ban came to a close and a field of 22 Dallara chassis tackled a damp and cold Snetterton to establish an early pecking order for the coming season.

And it was a new boy who emerged on top: 21-year-old James Calado (Pershore), the Racing Steps Foundation-backed driver who moves up to British F3 after success in junior formulae. Calado and his Volkswagen-powered Carlin car emerged quickest in the wet morning session by three-thousandths and went faster still in the drier afternoon conditions to end the day on top. "It's gone well," said James, "and I've learned a lot from today, which is the key thing."

Snetterton local Alex Brundle (Kings Lynn) ran Calado quickest in the morning on his first outing at the wheel of an International-class F3 car. Brundle enjoyed his debut for the T-Sport team: "Snetterton is home and of course it's one of my favourite tracks. It's been a good day and we've made a lot of progress."

Carlin, champions in 2008 with Jaime Alguersuari and 2009 courtesy Daniel Ricciardo, unveiled the latest addition to their driving strength today: Brazilian Adriano Buzaid, who was a race-winner last season with T-Sport. Buzaid ended his first day with his new team in fourth position; Carlin's other men - Jean-Eric Vergne, Rupert Svendsen-Cook and Jazeman Jaafar - all claimed top-11 positions.

T-Sport's National Class signing, Menasheh Idafar, put on a sterling show on his favourite circuit, romping to sixth-best time overall in the morning and ninth overall in the afternoon, just ahead of his new team-mate, reigning Formula Ford Champion James Cole.

Brazilian Gabriel Dias endured a tough start to his new career with Hitech Racing: braking problems led to a spin early on and damage to his chassis which kept him off the track for most of the day.

Teams spokesman Peter Briggs was delighted by the turn-out at Snetterton: "We have 50 per cent more cars at our first test this season than last, and that's a great and very encouraging result. It's fantastic also to see so many international drivers choosing British F3; the prospects are bright for a superb season."

There's further testing tomorrow (Thursday) at Snetterton ahead of a two-day session at Rockingham next week. The championship's opening rounds are at Oulton Park over the Easter weekend (3-5 Apr). British F3 is sponsored by US tyre manufacturer Cooper Tire and is further supported by Sunoco Racing Fuels, Anglo American Oil Company and Mirror.co.uk