AFTER tasting victory for the first time as a Supercars Championship race engineer, Sam Scaffidi was unequivocal in his assessment that Chaz Mostert is the best in the business.
Scaffidi is into his 12th season in Supercars, having started with a single year at Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport before carving out a decade-long tenure at Tickford Racing (race engineering from 2019 onwards).
When Adam DeBorre elected to move on from Supercars at the end of last season, Walkinshaw Andretti United turned to Scaffidi to fill the void as Mostert’s race engineer.
Scaffidi had previously guided the likes of Lee Holdsworth and James Courtney to podiums, but to find the top step via Mostert in Perth was nothing short of “massive”.
“To have come so close on so many occasions, just to get that breakthrough is honestly like a massive weight off your shoulders,” he told V8 Sleuth.
“I’m just hoping as a team we can build off that and go forwards because winning will be infectious for everyone.”
Scaffidi labelled his switch to WAU “a refreshing change” and is loving the opportunity to team up with Mostert.
“It’s awesome, you’re working with the best driver in the category,” Scaffidi declared.
“Like, he’s one of the best drivers in the world. We’ve seen that in multiple categories.
“It just takes someone to believe in him and propel him forward and listen to him and really work off his feedback. I think we work really well together, we bounce ideas off each other and try to keep each other in check which is probably the most important thing.”
Mostert has not been backward in praising Scaffidi’s tendency to challenge him.
“He has done a fantastic job. He has brought in a bit of a different structure than what I have been used to with Adam,” Mostert said after his Wanneroo win.
“Like I said at the start of the year, the biggest thing I see differently is he’s pushing me to a whole new level, looking back a bit more into my driving.
“Adam and me were together so long that we probably believed in each other a little bit too much, especially probably Adam towards me about my driving and stuff like that.
“Sam sees something in the data that I can be doing better and he’s not scared to tell me, so that’s pretty nice, definitely when you’re trying to perform at the highest level in Supercars.
“So I’m really enjoying that partnership. It’s awesome for him to get his first win; hopefully we have many more together.”
Of the 24 current Supercars race engineers, 17 are now race winners.
