Sam Bird took his second victory of an increasingly impressive debut season in race one at Spa-Francorchamps, but it was championship leader Marko Asmer who once again stole the show with a stirring fight up through the field from the back of the pack into sixth place.
The start of the race would prove crucial, as Bird – from third on the grid – dived to the right with two wheels brushing the concrete wall to snatch the lead from pole-sitter Stephen Jelley. The Double R pilot would reclaim his advantage on the run up the hill to Les Combes for the first time, while luckless fellow front row starter Maro Engel was already sliding down the order, hampered by a loss of sixth gear that would precipitate an early bath on lap three. This promoted Jonathan Kennard up to third and Rodolfo Gonzalez fourth, with Asmer having made up a staggering 15 places to run 14th. He would be up into the points by the start of lap four.
By that time Bird had already re-asserted his authority on proceedings, by diving up the inside of Jelley into La Source at the beginning of lap three, leaving the Leicester ace to face the pressure from an increasingly menacing Kennard in his rear view mirrors. As the Double R duo tussled and swapped places, their battling allowed Bird to make good his escape, and nine laps in the 20-year-old was a full 3.7 seconds to the good.
It was an advantage he would retain all the way to the chequered flag, with Kennard finding a way past his team-mate on the very last lap to clinch second place and his best result of the 2007 season so far, setting a new British F3 lap record along the way for good measure. Jelley held on to take third, a second further adrift, with fellow Double R star Atte Mustonen fourth, T-Sport's Rodolfo Gonzalez fifth and Asmer getting ahead of Carlin's Niall Breen for sixth and the six valuable championship points that accompany it on the final tour.
