After a six-week lay-off, the Cooper Tires British F3 protagonists went back into battle today (Tuesday) at Brands Hatch, with Will Buller topping the timesheets for Hitech Racing in the official championship test day on the Kent circuit’s Grand Prix configuration.

Seventeen-year-old Buller set the day’s best time in the drier afternoon session, but was still a full second off last year’s pole time, set by champion Daniel Ricciardo, with his mark of 1m 18.108s.

Buller headed home a trio of Carlin men - Adriano Buzaid, Jean-Eric Vergne and James Calado - with Brazilian Buzaid the closest to him, just 0.037s adrift. Buller’s Hitech team-mate Gabriel Dias was fifth fastest. Racing Steps Foundation driver Calado was the quickest runner in the wet morning session.

In the National class, points leader James Cole edged his team-mate Menasheh Idafar by just a few hundredths in both sessions.

Brands Hatch will be the venue for the closing rounds of the British F3 season at the end of September. This weekend (17/18 July) it’s the turn of the Rockingham circuit in Northamptonshire to host the championship; there will be testing on Friday followed by a 30-minute race on Saturday afternoon, a 20-minute pit-stop race on Sunday morning and the 40-minute feature race on Sunday afternoon.

Cooper Tires British F3 official testingBrands Hatch, Kent, 13 July 2010

Leading International runners am / pm

1  William BULLER / GBR,  Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 21.224s / 1m 18.108s2  Adriano BUZAID / BRA,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 21.027s / 1m 18.145s3  Jean-Eric VERGNE / FRA,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 22.831s / 1m 18.388s4  James CALADO / GBR,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 20.598s / 1m 18.582s5  Gabriel DIAS / BRA,  Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 23.277s / 1m 18.599s6  Lucas FORESTI / BRA,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 22.940s / 1m 18.625s7  Oli WEBB / GBR,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  1m 22.161s / 1m 18.686s8  Felipe NASR / BRA,  RR Dallara-Mercedes  1m 22.613s / 1m 18.900s9  Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 27.996s / 1m 19.037s10  Alex BRUNDLE / GBR,  T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 24.025s / 1m 19.353s etc

Leading National Class runners1  James COLE / GBR,  T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda  1m 24.464s / 1m 19.947s2  Menasheh IDAFAR / GBR,  T-Sport Dallara-Mugen Honda  1m 24.588s / 1m 19.992s