Matteo Scala

Matteo Scala
GPG Super League career
Nationality	Italian
Active seasons	3 -
Teams	Phoenix, Tafuro GP, VSM, MPR, MTP
First race	S3 German GP
Driver statistics
Races	90
Wins	5
Podiums	12
Career points	481
Pole positions	6
Fastest laps	4
First win	S8 Canadian GP
Last win	S13 Portuguese GP
Tester statistics
Tests	72
Wins	2
Podiums	9
Points	270

Matteo Scala is a Italian race driver for Maverick Track Performance. He started his GPGSL career in Season 3 as a test driver for Phoenix Racing. Formerly the team owner for ScalaGP.

He was formerly known as Paolo Tafuro

Season 3

Tafuro made his debut in Season 3 during Hockenheim GP's Free Practice, as #2 tester for Phoenix Racing. He keeps testing for the rest of the season. His first season was quite good, with a 2nd place at his second session, at Indianapolis and other points in different places.

Season 4

In Season 4 he makes his racing debut as #2 race driver for Phoenix Racing. He made an indifferent start, as he failed to gain points because of some unlucky events. His season finished strongly with some good points finishes and a 4th place at Sepang Circuit as top result. He was going to race in Season 5, but decided to take over Devil Fox Racing's team slot to bring his own team in the series, disallowing him from racing.

Season 5

Season 5 started well for Tafuro, as he seemed to be able to score many points in first FPs, but then he lost ground on the top 12. MPR announced to have signed him as #2 test driver in Season 6, leaving his own team.

Season 6

Season 6 didn't start really well for the Italian, but come the final standings he is 7th. He managed to take his first win in a session since his S3 debut, by getting the best time at Laguna Seca in the FP.

Season 7

After the S6 end, he announced that he will use his real name, Matteo Scala, instead of Paolo Tafuro. This was thought to be because Mafia agents discovered he was holding out on protection payments. Despite a good performance in S6, MPR preferred to focus on a possible race driver for the future instead of having another teamboss. After many weeks of searching, he will make a comeback to his own team (which changed name to ScalaGP), causing an undesirable situation as the team had to re-announce the lineup twice. The season ended up with ScalaGP dead last in the WCC. Some races before Scala announced the team's retirement while no informations were given about his plans. Later Ricardo Van Smirren (yeh,that idiot) announced him as Scuderia Minardi's new test driver.

Season 8

Scala started the season as 2nd Test Driver in Scuderia Minardi. Despite a not convincing pre-season race. He obtained the pole at Melbourne's feature race, putting himself on top of the time sheets for the 2nd time in his career. On Sunday he won the race, reaching his first win in GPGSL and obtaining the 1st place in the TDC. The good results showed by the Italian and the lack of activity by Ben Johnson caused a swap of seats in the team, causing Scala's comeback among the race drivers for the first time after S4. At his debut race, at Sepang, he reached the 7th place. Just one week later he got an amazing win in the Canadian Grand Prix after starting from the pole position. He got the fastest lap too. As the season progresses he obtains a 2nd place and other three top 10 placement. At Monaco he qualifies in 2nd place but retires during the race after a crash. The following weekend, at Magny Cours, the Italian driver scores his second hat trick (pole position, fastest lap and win). Together with Chris Warrington's most places gained point this was Minardi's best S8 weekend so far. The last two races don't bring other notable results to the Italian racer while the team manages to reach the 3rd place in WCC, remarking Minardi's return to the top places. Something that was quite unexpected at the start of the season. 

Season 9

Rumors say that he will retire to focus on his recently discovered alcohol addiction. Other rumors say that he's actually working in a task force to eliminate Silvio "Berlusca" Berlusconi. Other rumors say that, after high school's final exams, he will simply disappear from existence.

Other news say that he might keep on driving till he wins 9 WDCs.

No announcement was made about his intentions. Yet he's going to be seen as VSM #1 racer in S9.

Surprisingly he obtains the pole at the first GP of the new season but in the race he finished 2nd after an early battle with Joseph Gilson and John Maverick. At Kyalami Scala obtained the pole at his last try and dominated the race till last laps when Moinet and Jalving managed to pass him. At Montréal he wins his first race in this season after starting 2nd and being overtaken by Maverick. At this point of the season the Italian driver has obtained points in just 3 races on 6 but he never ended below 3rd. At Road America Scala qualifies in 8th place but after a good start his car lacks the speed and the Italian goes home with a 12th place. 

Season 10

Following the retirement of Van Smirren Motorsports the Italian driver was left without a competitive race seat for S10. Thus MPR found his agreement for testing duties for S10.

Team Ownership

He owned a team called ScalaGP, which made its debut in GPGSL in Season 5. This was the product of a buyout of Devil Fox Racing.

Curiosities

• Despite the surname showed above, the Italian driver has nothing to do with Mussolini.
• As well he isn't involved in "Cosa Nostra", "Ndrangheta", "Camorra", "Sacra Corona Unita" or other Italian mafias.

Racing record

Complete Grandprixgames Super League results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap; underlined races indicate most places gained)

Season	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	WDC	Points
3	Phoenix Racing	AUS	GER TD	USA TD	CAN TD	EUR TD	SAM TD	NED TD	BEL TD	MAL TD	ENG TD	HUN TD	ITA TD	JPN TD	SMR TD	BRA TD	MON TD	GBR TD
4	Phoenix Racing	AUS 15	ITA 15	BEL 15	JPN 19	EUR 13	MON 22	PAC 6	RSA 21	HUN 17	GER 7	BRA 19	UAE 16	MAL 4	USA 10	CAN 10	NED 12	GBR 20		18th	29
5	Tafuro GP	AUS 4	FRA 3	JPN 5	BEL 18	ESP 21	BRA Ret	GER 14	NED 11	EUR 16	ITA 5	CAN 17	UAE 14	PAC 15	USA 14	MON 17	TUR 22	GBR 11		14th	39
6	Martini Paddock Racing	AUS 13	ITA 21	CAN 11	HUN 18	USA 1	NED 15	SMR 10	GER 8	JPN 3	SAM 5	ATL 3	AUT 2	MON 8	FRA 7	BEL 22	BRA 3	GBR 5		7th	94
7	ScalaGP	AUS 19	GCO 14	JPN 9	CAN 13	USA 8	FRA 13	NED 4	BEL 20	SUI 17	ITA 15	SMR 22	BRA 21	OCE 18	AUT 21	HUN 21	GER 18	GBR 22		19th	18
8	Scuderia Minardi	AUS 1	SAU 13	SIN 15																27th	48
					MAL 7	JPN 14	CAN 1	SAM 10	BRA 2	BEL 13	GER 5	AUT 10	SMR 14	ITA 12	MON Ret	FRA 1	LUX 11	GBR 10		9th	216
9	Van Smirren Motorsports	AUS 2	JPN Ret	MAL 13	RSA 3	ESP 16	CAN 1	USA 12	BRA 6	BEL 11	EUR 17	NED Ret	ITA Ret	AUT 9	CZE 7	GER 12	FRA 13	GBR 12		9th	62
10	Martini Paddock Racing	AUS 6	PAC 9	MAL 12	JPN 3	UAE 13	ITA 4	AUT 12	EUR 9	CAN 8	USA 18	BRA 10	RSA 21	OCE 13	GER 4	BEL 12	NED 3	GBR 6	FLE 18	8th	71
11	Maverick Track Performance	AUS 3	MAL 4	JPN 15	ITA Ret	ESP 13	RSA 6	BRA 7	USA Ret	CAN 22	GER 20	AUT 11	BEL 11	GBR 11	NED 14					13th	41
12	Maverick Track Performance	AUS 1	JPN 11	USA 12	CAN 3	SAM 15	BRA 4	RSA 13	AUT 14	GER Ret	BEL 6	TUR 19	ITA Ret	GBR 21	NED 4					13th	57
13	Maverick Track Performance	AUS 12	MAL 5	ITA 5	BEL 3	AUT 3	CAN 8	USA 13	BRA Ret	NED 7	AZE 5	GER 9	EUR 13	POR 1	GBR 15					4th	76