Waters overcame Mostert to take victory in a thrilling 88-lap encounter this afternoon at the NTI Townsville 500, after they started alongside each other on the front row.

Their race-long fight for victory spiked on multiple occasions; shortly before and after the first pit stop cycle, midway through the second stint, and then when the rain briefly chucked down with about 10 laps to go.

However, but for a small bump when Mostert passed for the effective lead on Lap 29, they managed to avoid contact, even Waters’ race-winning move on Lap 82 was a bold, under-brakes move at Turn 2.

It was a far cry from their days together at Tickford Racing when they became notorious for intra-team incidents, the most infamous being in the 2019 Bathurst 1000 while battling for a podium position.

Asked about the change by Speedcafe in the post-race press conference, Waters reiterated the theory that both are simply older and wiser.

“I think Chaz summed it up; he’s getting older, so am I, and with age, you become wise,” said the Tickford Racing driver.

“So, five years ago, it might have been a different race but I’m glad it wasn’t.

“We stepped up a little bit of the respect, maybe.”

Mostert, though thinks a big difference is the fact he nowadays drives for Walkinshaw Andretti United.

“A bit of that,” said the Mobil 1 Optus Mustang pilot as he picked up from Waters’ train of thought.

“But, I think the biggest thing, when you’re team-mates, you generally have the same car, so you have the same strengths and the same weaknesses.

“I always reckon your team-mate’s car is probably the hardest car to pass out there because you’re trying to find something that they don’t have.

“So, now we’re in different teams, we have different strengths, different weaknesses… You feel like the moves are a bit easier to set up and make happen.

“Through that race, it was amazing where my car was strong compared to where Cam’s was, and no doubt we probably haven’t got the results that we’ve wanted; probably both of us last year, coming into this year.

“I think we’ve raced pretty hard and generally pretty respectful but, at that time, when we were at Tickford Racing with each other, I think we were both going for team dominance or whatever it was, make Tim Edwards [then-Team Principal] get some grey hairs, and it was great, it was awesome.

“I love the highlights reel every time we go to Bathurst,” he quipped in closing.