The Walkinshaw Andretti United driver brought the #25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang home in third place in the opening encounter of the Thrifty Bathurst 500, although not for lack of trying.
He threatened to make things interesting for eventual runner-up Will Brown with a string of fastest laps – the fastest four of the race – before a Full Course Yellow and a separate Safety Car period put paid to the contest.
Queried post-race about a tendency to wear out the tyres on his car, Mostert opened up about the change from Adam De Borre, his Race Engineer for all but one year of his Repco Supercars Championship career, to Scaffidi this season.
“I probably still blew them [rear tyres] off, I was still trying to catch the guys in the front,” he quipped.
“But, the guys actually gave me such an amazing car – the thing was really, really fun to drive – and a bit different driving style than what I’m normally used to in this car.
“Sam, as well, has been coaching me a lot.
“It’s funny, probably the difference between Adam and ‘Scaff’ is, Adam had 10 years of me probably believing in me too much to a point that, probably last couple of years, never had the hard word with me to say, ‘You need to change something.’
“But, ever since ‘Scaff’ kind of came onboard at the test day, he’s come in with a fresh set of eyes and fresh face, no doubt.”
Mostert has only experienced three winless seasons out of 11 in his Repco Supercars Championship career; the first of Gen3 (2023), his first with WAU (2020), and the only one, until now, when De Borre was not his Race Engineer (2016), which coincided with his return from injury.
Even last year, though, the Queenslander ended up the top Ford driver in the championship, while he and De Borre have shared two Bathurst 1000 victories.
While Scaffidi speaks a similar ‘language’ to De Borre, having been a Data Engineer of Mostert’s in their Tickford days, there is still something to learn for the 31-year-old steerer.
“Like you said, I’m pretty good at blowing the rear tyres off,” he continued.
“That was probably one of the first chats we had at the test day, so he’s keeping me honest to a point.
“I am trying to drive a little bit different.
“Even when you get to my age and you feel like one of the old bucks that’s sitting up here with a couple of young, hard chargers – Woody in the team as well [rookie team-mate Ryan Wood] – you can always learn something as a race car driver.
“I think you get to a point at the end of your career – the day you don’t learn anything – is the day you should hang up your helmet.”
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