Indeed the Romanian view is very different. Lipfert and his rookie pilots were operating in Slovakia in the Altshol area (Zvolen in modern times.) according to his memoirs. The area was constantly under heavy bombardment and German ground forces informed that the latest bombings had been carried out by the Romanian air forces flying with He-111 and Ju-88 bombers. Lipfert intercepted one of these attacks together with his pilots. He tried to make life hard to the bombers with only a single MG operating. While doing this two Messerschmitt's came down from the side towards him firing all the time forcing him to engage them. This is how Lipfert describes the initial encounter of the two Romanian Bf 109s of the February 25 109 vs 109 combat.

For building the mission I have used the description in "Rumanian Aces of World War 2" by D?nes Bernad, who did a lot of research on this incident. I think we will never fully know what had happened exactly. The situation in the air over Zvolen was very chaotic on this day, there were several clashes between I./JG53 and Romanian/Soviet fighters. But D?rjan was the only Romanian fighter pilot who died on this day, and he was allegedly killed by a 13 mm bullet in the head, this fits very well with Lipfert's statement that he had attacked only with his machine gun.

Situation over Zvolen... You are reading my mind.

So much was probably happening in a relatively small area it is impossible to determine the order of the individual battles happening, a very busy day for both sides it seems.

Your statement of Darjan succumbing to a 13 mm bullet fits Lipfert's single MG predicament well. Interesting. One could now draw a hazy picture that after achieving aerial successes among the SG FW190's the pair may have climbed back to altitude and once meeting the bombers, on purpose or by chance (?), intercepted the attacking German Messerschmitt's which then led to the awful end result.

And to add to the confusion, the official Luftwaffe records also show a Yak-9 claimed by Lipfert on 25th February over Zvolen.

Yep very true, just checked that, and no other confirms to that day... Doh

I have found the German version of the part from Lipfert's book that describes the 25 February mission. It gives a clearer account of what had happened.
Lipfert flew the mission together with three other Bf-109 from JG53. After they shot at the Romanian bombers Lipfert was attacked by two Messerschmitts and dived into the clouds. When he came out of the clouds at low altitude he saw a pair of Romanian 109s and shot down the wingman. He doesn't say, that they were the same 109 that had attacked him before! Lipfert writes that he was alone when he attacked, but obviously his wingman followed him when he dived to avoid the first two Messerschmitts, because immediately after Lipfert shot down D?rjan, Cantacuzino was hit by another German 109.

Now that the facts are mostly clear I have to try how to best recreate all this in the FMB.

Excellent. Lipfert swooping down to ground level was something that slipped from my eyes, but that point certainly clears the mist around the events. Nice work.