MP Motorsport driver Boccolacci was nearly forced to start from the back of the grid after failing to get away from his grid slot for the formation lap - but he managed to get going again before the final car overtook him.

That meant he could retake his pole position, and a strong getaway ensured Boccolacci led into the first corner ahead of compatriots Anthoine Hubert and Giuliano Alesi.

Boccolacci had stretched a lead of 1.5s by the end of the second lap, with his lead peaking at around three seconds before points leader Hubert fought back late on.

The ART driver was able to close within a second as the final lap began, but fell 0.6s short of the win.

Nikita Mazepin was able to pull off an early pass on Alesi to take the final podium spot, albeit finishing four seconds behind his ART teammate Hubert.

Alesi hung on for fourth ahead of Niko Kari (MP Motorsport), who came out on top in an entertaining early battle over fifth place with the Campos car of Leonardo Pulcini.

Trident pair Alessio Lorandi and Pedro Piquet completed the top eight, the latter scoring reverse grid pole for Sunday's second race.

Joey Mawson (Arden) came under huge pressure from ART pair Callum Ilott and Jake Hughes in the closing stages, but clung on for ninth as Ilott completed the scorers after dropping from seventh to 10th on a dismal opening lap.

Hughes, who passed Ilott for 10th early on only for the positions to be reversed later, was forced out wide at the last corner by Juan Manuel Correa, dropping him to 12th at the flag.

Correa had already courted controversy the previous lap when he tapped Jenzer teammate Tatiana Calderon into a spin at the Mistral Chicane.

MP Motorsport debutant Christian Lundgaard finished 14th from 11th on the grid.

Race results:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time/Gap
1	Dorian Boccolacci	MP Motorsport	37'54.388
2	Anthoine Hubert	ART Grand Prix	0.673
3	Nikita Mazepin	ART Grand Prix	5.034
4	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	9.006
5	Niko Kari	MP Motorsport	10.115
6	Leonardo Pulcini	Campos Racing	11.592
7	Alessio Lorandi	Trident	14.379
8	Pedro Piquet	Trident	20.086
9	Joey Mawson	Arden International	26.652
10	Callum Ilott	ART Grand Prix	26.886
11	Juan Manuel Correa	Jenzer Motorsport	27.798
12	Jake Hughes	ART Grand Prix	28.091
13	Ryan Tveter	Trident	28.156
14	Christian Lundgaard	MP Motorsport	28.202
15	Simo Laaksonen	Campos Racing	42.542
16	Diego Menchaca	Campos Racing	43.005
17	Gabriel Aubry	Arden International	43.876
18	Julien Falchero	Arden International	48.045
19	Tatiana Calderon	Jenzer Motorsport	48.955
20	David Beckmann	Jenzer Motorsport	1'03.053