The American started the race from the outside of the front row, sweeping into the lead ahead of pole winner Jin Nakamura at the first corner.
From there he was never headed, Ugochukwu quickly gapping the rest of the field to build a sizeable advantage.
That gap was ultimately undone by a late crash for Ernesto Rivera which meant the race finished behind the safety car.
Still, it was a dominant performance from Ugochukwu who added to his points lead over chief title rival Freddie Slater who finished fourth.
There is, however, still a question mark over how the rest of Ugochukwu’s weekend will play out given he is understood to be under investigation for a technical breach in qualifying.
“Very stressful day overall I would say, but I’m really happy to get the win,” said Ugochukwu.
“I tried to forget about everything else and just focus on Race 1 for now. I got a mega start, got into the lead and that allowed me to control and manage the race from there.”
Nakamura came home second, holding off a lengthy challenge from Louis Sharp who rounded out the podium.
Slater limited the points damage by moving from sixth on the grid to fourth, thanks to a first-lap move on Ryan Wood and a mid-race spin for Zack Scoular.
That Scoular incident helped Wood come home where he started in fifth ahead of James Wharton and Liam Sceats.
Kanato Le is set to start tomorrow’s first race from pole courtesy of his eighth place finish.
World Rally Champion Kalle Rovanpera was absent from today’s action due to illness.
Sunday’s action will include Race 2 and then the 70th running of the New Zealand Grand Prix.
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