Having taken his maiden F3 podium in the opening race in Bucharest, Sam Bird celebrated his first win in race two in the Romanian capital as he led home Carlin team-mate Niall Breen to a 1-2 finish.

The win saw Bird become the first rookie driver to win a race during the 2007 season, with Breen taking his second podium in as many meetings and pole-man Stephen Jelley completing the top three – although for the Raikkonen Robertson Racing driver it was very much as case of what might have been after an incident while battling for the lead saw him lose any chance of a first win.

As was the case with the opening race of the weekend, the Safety Car led the field away at the start, with Greg and Leo Mansell joining Walter Grubmuller on the sidelines as a result of their retirements in race one. The race finally got underway on the third lap when the Safety Car returned to the pits with Jelley leading the way from Alberto Valerio, the Brazilian having qualified second for Carlin, while further back, championship leader Marko Asmer was moving in the wrong direction when he lost tenth place to the Mygale of Michael Devaney as the race went green.

By the end of the opening lap at race speed, Valerio was closing on Jelley, while young Finn Atte Mustonen held third from Maro Engel. As the front two raced across the start-finish line, Valerio went for the inside into the first right-hander, but Jelley took the racing line and turned in – with the resulting contact seeing both drivers take a trip into the escape road on the outside of the turn. That promoted Mustonen into the lead of an F3 race for the first time, but his run out front wouldn't last for long as Engel went down the inside into the chicane only to find himself squeezed into the wall, both cars suffering too much damage to continue.

All that meant Bird suddenly found himself in the race lead ahead of Breen, while Jelley had recovered from his spin to lie third. Behind them, battles were raging for fourth, with Rodolfo Gonzalez, Asmer, Michael Devaney and John Martin dicing for position. Asmer was finding it tough to find a way past Gonzalez for position, but found himself squeezed by the T-Sport man on lap eleven which was enough to allow Martin to squeeze through into fourth ahead of Gonzalez, Asmer and Devaney – although Gonzalez would drop to tenth at the end of the race when he was given a time penalty for his driving.

Bird was extending his lead and was over five seconds clear by lap 13, when the Safety Car was called upon after National Class runner Hamad Al Fardan clipped the wall and was collected by Michael Meadows and Albert Costa – the field circulating under yellow flags for three laps as the damaged cars were removed from the circuit.

When the race resumed, Bird quickly opened up his lead once again and was able to bring his car home clear of Breen for a first win of the season, while second was also a personal best for team-mate Breen. Jelley took a disappointed third from Martin, with Asmer and Devaney completing the top six – the Irish driver snaring the quickest lap of the race in just the sixth start for the new Mygale chassis.

Sergio Perez took the honours in the National Class for his second win of the season, while Viktor Jensen and Frankie Cheng rounded out the podium. As a result, Cheng, who retired from the opening race, now leads the standings once again from Perez and Meadows. In the full Championship Class, Asmer leads by 47 points from Jelly, with Bird having jumped up to third.