Les Bleus, who made an embarrassing first-round exit in South Africa, saw their campaign gather pace in a packed Stade de France after leaving it late to see off a tough Romania side.
Striker Remy, a 68th-minute replacement for Mathieu Valbuena, fired a low shot into the far corner of the net after a quick counter attack seven minutes from time.
Playmaker Gourcuff, featuring for the first time since Les Bleus’s farcical South African campaign, came off the bench to put the result beyond doubt in stoppage time.
Laurent Blanc’s side, who started the campaign with an embarrassing defeat at home to Belarus, now have six points from three matches ahead of Albania and the Belarussians on five.
Romania stay second from bottom with two points.
“It is very frustrating because we lost just when we started to control the play but we have to acknowledge France were superior,” Romania coach Razvan Lucescu told a news conference.
France’s next qualifier is against Luxembourg in Metz on Tuesday.
The home side got off to a good start in Paris with Samir Nasri and Valbuena dictating the play in the midfield, but they lacked sharpness as Romania just sat back.
The home side had their first clear chance in the 19th when, after a fine pass on the turn by Nasri, Florent Malouda fired just wide — it was his only goal attempt in the game.
France had another great opportunity to open the scoring four minutes before the break when Karim Benzema’s fine curled shot from the edge of the area shaved the far post.
Valbuena unleashed a powerful shot from 18 metres that brought a superb one-handed save by Pantelimon who forced the ball up onto the bar before it was booted clear of danger.
Benzema then struck a shot from close range at the near post but found the Romania keeper in his way just before Nasri sped down the left flank and into the penalty area only to see his attempt saved by Pantilimon’s feet.
The game could have gone Romania’s wa
y in the 70th when Cristian Sapunaru’s shot struck Lloris’s right post and the France keeper gratefully dived on the rebound.
But it was France who took the lead when Remy collected a long ball from Alou Diarra and sped past Cristian Chivu before beating Pantilimon to trigger wild celebrations in the crowd.
Gourcuff, who replaced a fading Nasri 16 minutes from time, then netted from close range three minutes into added time to wrap up the win having been set up by substitute Dimitri Payet.
