MP Motorsport's Dorian Boccolacci stormed the GP3 field in the first race of the weekend to clinch a victory in his home country at the Paul Ricard Circuit.
The Frenchman came close to losing his pole position starting spot after initially stalling at the beginning of the formation lap. He did eventually get his car moving just before the final car got past him, meaning he was still able to take up his position.
Anthoine Hubert came through to get a third consecutive second place for ART to make it a French 1-2 result as his Russian team-mate Nikita Mazepin rounded out the podium.
Giuliano Alesi was unable to maintain the third place he secured after qualifying after getting passed by Mazepin in a superb move around the outside into Turn 5.
The second MP Motorsport of Niko Kari carved his way through the pack in the early laps before DRS was disabled and eventually came through to cross the line in fifth place.
Behind the top five, it was a lonely race for Leonardo Pulcini as he didn't quite have the pace to keep up with Kari, he was followed home by Alessio Lorandi and Pedro Piquet.
In the final laps of the race, Joey Mawson and Callum Ilott went toe-to-toe around the La Castellet circuit for the final points paying positions with some superb side-by-side action however, the Briton had to settle for tenth behind the Australian driver.
Tatiana Calderon was also in the battle for the final points on the penultimate lap before being struck by Jenzer team-mate Juan Manual Correa at the Turn 8 chicane on the Mistral straight. Correa then also hit Jake Hughes at the final corner on the last lap which may see the stewards involvement.
