Nathan Freke made a near-perfect start to the seventh event of the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup season at Knockhill in Fife today, Saturday, 3rd September, by securing an excellent lights-to-flag win during round 18 – his fifth victory from the last nine race starts.Although the first half of the season proved troublesome for theplayer.co.uk/Century Motorsport driver, over the last few race meetings Freke has been able to show the sort of pace and ability which took him to the Ginetta G50 Cup title – the forerunner to the GT Supercup – in 2009.Edging out Tom Sharp by 0.143 seconds in qualifying to claim pole position, Freke got away well at the start to fend off the IDL driver and soaked up continued pressure from the former championship leader to take another richly deserved success.On lap three, the Safety Car was deployed after a multi-car tangle at Leslie’s which accounted for the extremely unfortunate Fergus Walkinshaw, who starred in qualifying with a sensational third fastest time, and also resulted in pit visits for Lee Pattison and Josh Fielding.Seeing off Sharp’s challenge at the re-start, Freke certainly didn’t have things all his own way as his pursuer piled on the pressure. The pole-sitter hardly put a wheel wrong though and didn’t offer up anything like an opportunity for Sharp to grasp.“It went well, Tom did put a lot of pressure on me but it is difficult to overtake here”, said Freke, “I knew if I kept everything clean I could make his life hard but I did make a little mistake at Clark which did allow him to get right back onto me on one lap, but we got enough of a gap and controlled it.“It’s the first race, brand new tyres, so you need to try and keep the car in line. If you start burning tyres up in the first race, by the time you get to the third race of the weekend you’re really going to be in trouble. The car was absolutely faultless and I’m really pleased with another win – we’re creeping up on them in the championship.”Behind Sharp, points leader Carl Breeze was an ever-present threat and the top three proved to be very well matched in terms of pace. In the end, Sharp had the edge with a best time of 53.162 seconds (86.09mph) but he couldn’t quite carve open an opportunity to try and attack Freke.“Carl was fast and he was behind me the whole time putting the pressure on”, said Sharp, “I think we had the edge on Nathan but in a race like that when someone is so close behind you, it’s a case of thinking if you want to try and attack and risk losing a few places. I tried that at Croft and it didn’t work so I learnt my lesson and held back on that one today! The car was really good, very fast.”Yet another podium for Breeze, his 12th of the season, enabled him to maintain his position at the top of the driver standings but Sharp’s runner-up placing, added to the bonus point for fastest lap, mean the latter has closed to within 26 points of the Total Control Racing driver.“Third is good points and the finish moves me up to the inside of the second row for tomorrow morning’s race so I’m quite happy with that”, commented Breeze, “To be fair, the three of us at the front were all running similar pace. In sector one I seemed to have more pace than them but then I lost out in sector two. We’ll make a few changes for tomorrow but it’s not been a bad day.”The top three were able to break away from the rest, headed by Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan who maintained his consistent run of form with yet another strong finish albeit a couple of seconds shy of the podium placings.Home hero Franchitti makes excellent Ginetta debutFifth, meanwhile, went the way of the weekend’s special guest driver, American Le Mans Series racer Marino Franchitti, who made an extremely popular debut in the championship at his home circuit as he climbed from eighth on the grid. Taking the wheel of TCR’s second Ginetta G55 as team-mate to Breeze, today’s action marked the Edinburgh driver’s first at the Fife circuit for 10 years.Even so, Franchitti upped his pace markedly as the race progressed and in the end he lapped within just 0.4 seconds of Sharp’s fastest lap and just a couple of 10ths of a second off Breeze. At this rate, expect even better from the hugely successful sportscar ace during tomorrow’s pair of encounters.Colin White rounded out the top six after a very strong drive from the pits after a car problem on the formation lap. Slicing his way through the G50 Class battle, the CWS racer delivered a good showing to end up just eight seconds adrift of Franchitti.In terms of the G50 Cup class battle, Aaron Williamson achieved his third win of the season and also set the fastest lap after a superb fight with points leader Tom Ingram and Jake Hill. There was very little to choose between the Ginetta Junior graduates and Williamson’s task was made harder when some recovering Ginetta G55s came into the mix which compromised his lead.Even so, he managed to hold on for the win although Ingram lost second place at the hairpin on the final lap when Hill made a late dive up the inside. As far as the championship goes, Ingram has a six point lead over Jody Fannin who finished fourth in class today.“It was quite difficult with some of the G55s in there”, said Williamson, “The new cars are quicker but sometimes they do play a big role in our race. I had quite a good gap going into the last four laps but then (Lee) Pattison closed us all back up again when he got amongst us. I’m really happy with another win, my third of the year and 11th podium.”Rounds 19 and 20 of the 2011 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup will take place at Knockhill tomorrow, Sunday, 4th September, at 09.35 and 15.30 respectively. The second of the two encounters will be screened live throughout the UK on Freeview, digital satellite and cable channel ITV4 and in High Definition on ITV4 HD. Live streaming will be carried online at itv.com/touringcarsProvisional 2011 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup Championship Positions (after Rd18):1st Carl Breeze, 475pts; 2nd Tom Sharp, 449pts; 3rd Adam Morgan, 440pts; 4th Nathan Freke, 396pts; 5th George Murrells, 315pts; 6th Colin White, 282ptsProvisional 2011 Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup ‘G50 Class’ Championship Positions (after Rd18):1st Tom Ingram, 442pts; 2nd Jody Fannin, 436pts; 3rd Aaron Williamson, 384pts; 4th Jake Hill, 363pts; 5th Andrew Richardson, 260pts; 6th Louise Richardson, 198pts