The 15-lap race began under Safety Car conditions due to inclement weather at the Guia Street Circuit.

Moments after the race went green with 13 laps to go, Wharton tried to make a pass around the outside at Lisboa and buried himself in the tyre barriers.

Several cars managed to avoid the stricken car before the pile-up began.

Wharton was followed into the barrier by Evan Giltare, Rintaro Sato, Tiago Rodrigues, Jett Bowling, Kanato Le, and Kai Daryanani.

The race was duly red-flagged and resumed with pole position winner Ugo Ugochukwu at the head of the field.

He controlled proceedings despite several more Safety Car interventions for incidents during the race.

Lap 1, Lisboa corner 💀
Onboard with Dino Beganovic nearly getting caught by the first incident of the session. Red flag 🚩
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Australia’s only other competitor, Cooper Webster, climbed his way to seventh from 15th on the grid.

Ugochukwu, a McLaren junior, swept qualifying, the qualifying race, and the feature event despite tricky conditions.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said the American.

“Everyone wants to win. The weekend went perfectly, really. Topped Q2, won the quali race. We had one more step to do which was win the main race.

“We’ve done it, so job done.”

The 17-year-old is poised to graduate to the FIA Formula 3 Championship with Prema alongside Noel León, who finished third in this year’s Macau Grand Prix, and Brando Badoer.