Hulkenberg converted pole position into the lead at the start, while Tsukakoshi dropped beind the German's ART Grand Prix team-mate Jules Bianchi on the run to the first corner, after Mucke Motorsport's Christian Vietoris stalled from third on the grid.
With Tsuakakoshi bottled up behind Bianchi, Hulkenberg quickly extended his lead until the Japanese passed Bianchi for second on the run to the first corner on lap four.
With no traffic in-front of him, Tsukakoshi quickly carved into Hulkenberg's advantage and on lap 11 attempted to pass him for the lead around the outside of the first corner. The Manor Motorsport driver lost the rear of his Dallara-Mercedes mid-corner, clipping the sidepod of Hulkenberg, and lost almost a second to the leader.
From there, Hulkenberg was able to maintain the gap to take victory ahead of Tsukakoshi and Bianchi.
"It was a big relief after the bad start to the season," said Hulkenberg, who picked up only two points at Hockenheim last month. "It's not easy this weekend because it has been so close.
"We had a strong race but Kodai was always very close behind and he never gave me the chance to relax. It's a good way to start my championship after what happened at Hockenheim."
Edoardo Mortara held off Prema's Renger van der Zande to take fourth, with Hockenheim race winner Mika Maki taking sixth place after Manor's Kazuya Oshima retired with a technical problem.
SG Formula's Yann Clairay will start from the front row of the grid in tomorrow's second race after finishing seventh, while Prema's Dani Clos passed Manor's Niall Breen to take reverse grid pole on the last lap.
Pos Driver Team Car Gap 1. Nico Hulkenberg ART D/M 36:35.388 2. Kodai Tsukakoshi Manor D/M +1.001 3. Jules Bianchi ART D/M +16.404 4. Edoardo Mortara Signature D/V +17.340 5. Renger van der Zande Prema D/M +18.377 6. Mika Maki Mucke D/M +21.521 7. Yann Clairay SG D/M +30.537 8. Dani Clos Prema D/M +31.518 9. Niall Breen Manor D/M +33.276 10. Erik Janis Mucke D/M +36.899 11. Franck Mailleux Signature D/V +38.104 12. James Jakes ART D/M +40.366 13. Henkie Waldschmidt SG D/M +40.623 14. Sam Bird Manor D/M +42.155 15. Richard Philippe Carlin D/M +43.788 16. Tom Dillmann SG D/M +45.510 17. Charlie Kimball Prema D/M +45.974 18. Rodolfo Gonzalez Carlin D/M +46.537 19. Michael Klein Jo Zeller D/M +49.461 20. Basil Shaaban HBR D/M +54.948 21. Stefano Coletti Signature D/V +56.271 22. Maximilian Gotz RC D/V +57.956 23. Jon Lancaster ART D/M +59.821 24. Jens Klingmann RC D/V +1:06.792 25. Jean-Karl Vernay Signature D/V +1:07.179 Not classified Driver Team Car Laps Kazuya Oshima Manor D/M 16 laps Daniel Campos-Hull HBR D/M 16 Laps Christian Vietoris Mucke D/M 16 Laps Martin Plowman RC D/V 3 laps Fastest lap, Vietoris 1:42.607 on lap 3 (D/M = Dallara Mercedes, D/V = Dallara Volkswagen)
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