Randle was placed third with 10 of the 50 laps remaining when he was asked to let Waters through, clearing the path for the Monster Mustang to chase second-placed Nick Percat.

Waters proved unable to overtake Percat and took the flag in third place, 2.5 seconds ahead of the Castrol Mustang.

Randle confirmed to Speedcafe post-race that he had initially been told Waters would let him back through if he couldn’t overhaul Percat.

“That was what was discussed at the time and obviously I gave the spot up straight away as soon as I got the call,” he said.

Tickford management dragged the two drivers and engineers into the team’s transporter shortly after the race in a bid to diffuse any frustrations.

“It was a productive chat,” said Randle.

“We are one team. We can learn a bit from today. It was probably a miscommunication with how it was worded, I guess.

“I guess the gap between Cam and I [towards the end]… it got a bit awkward to switch back.”

Waters described the situation as “tricky” given that a tyre offset meant he likely had the speed to overtake Randle anyway.

The Monster Mustang driver had fought past James Golding and Macauley Jones before closing on Randle, having lost out to all three drivers on his out lap from the pits.

“I had a good chat with Tom,” said Waters of the post-race fallout.

“Obviously, we were on very different strategies. I came out with a good tyre over everyone else and he let me through, which was awesome, so I could try and catch Nick.

“There was a pretty big gap there and I owe him a beer for letting me through and I’ll definitely repay the favour for him down the track.”

Asked if he’s owed more than just a beer by Waters, Randle said he’s already owed bottles of his teammate’s own Waters Whisky.

“He promised me two bottles of whisky from November last year when I put the sticker on my helmet, I’m still waiting on those,” he said.

“I think he owes me more than two bottles, so let’s just leave it at that.

“But look, we’ve been mates for a long time, that’s not going to change at all.

“We’re close mates, we look after each other, so there’s no bad blood or anything. We’ll be right.“