Rookie Logan Sargeant defeated his R-ace GP team-mate Max Fewtrell to claim his maiden Formula Renault Eurocup victory in the first race of the 2018 season.

The American took the lead from pole-sitter Fewtrell off the line and held off challenges from the Briton in the middle of the race to take the win by 1.887 seconds.

Behind them, Victor Martins struggled to get off the line from third and dropped down the order,?but managed to recover to 12th, where he spent most of the race trying to find a way past Thomas Maxwell.

Yifei Ye, who was promoted to third after Martins? poor start, held off late attacks from Lorenzo Colombo to take the final podium position.

Having been passed by Colombo early on, Christian Lundgaard finished fifth ahead of Oscar Piastri, who spent the later part of the race defending against Neil Verhagen and Alexander Smolyar.

Charles Milesi and Alexander Vartanyan completed the top 10.

Only four cars failed to finish the race. MP Motorsport?s Alex Peroni and Max Defourny and Josef Kaufmann driver Richard Verschoor returned to the pits after first-lap dramas, while Fortec?s Arthur Rougier retired in the pits on lap five.