Trevor Carlin has spoken of his delight at seeing young protégé Sam Bird seal the second victory of his fledgling British F3 career around the daunting Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, describing it as a very 'mature' performance.

The 20-year-old series rookie stole the lead as the lights went out from third position on the grid, and though he briefly lost it again to pole-sitter Stephen Jelley later around the opening lap, he ultimately made it stick at the beginning of lap three and from thereon in was peerless, pulling out an advantage of almost 3.5 seconds come the chequered flag.

“The whole team is pleased for Sam,” Carlin enthused. “He did a fantastic job, had a perfect start and demonstrated great racecraft to get the lead from Jelley. He then pushed hard to build up a gap while the Double R cars behind him were fighting for position, and was able to cruise to the flag. It was a very mature performance from a rookie.”

“Everyone knows I had a bit of a problem starting at Brands Hatch,” added the race-winner, who in so doing regained second spot in the drivers' standings from team-mate Maro Engel. “I was keen to put that behind me and prove I could have a legitimate and very quick start!

“I had enough speed to pass Stephen into the second corner and I must thank him for not squeezing me into the wall. Stephen got a good tow on me and led the next couple of laps, but then I got a good tow on him and was able to get past. I thought we would pull away from the rest of the pack, but unfortunately for Stephen and I suppose fortunately for me he then began to suffer from handling problems and I was able to break away. What can I say? It was just brilliant to take another victory.”

Engel's promising front row starting spot ultimately went to waste only two laps in due to gearbox failure, while Niall Breen continued his steady point-scoring trend in seventh, just behind championship leader Marko Asmer. Mario Moraes and Alberto Valerio, however, were both in the wars after making up a number of places at the start as separate collisions saw the former drop to the back of the field and the latter forced to retire at the end of the first lap.

“I had a good start – a little bit of wheel spin – but I got away ok,” remarked Valerio. “I overtook Greg Mansell and was suddenly met by a wall of cars. I went around the outside and made up about five places; I easily had the pace.

“Then all of a sudden someone hit me from behind, the car went up in the air and when I came back down again it broke the suspension. I think I was in P6 or P5 at that point, so it was a real shame having made up so many places from 13th on the grid.”