Am I missing something to be competitive in the Grand Race?

I am fairly new to the game but am by no means new to racing games. Been playing since prime Need for Speed era. I really enjoy it but I’ve attempted the Grand Race a few times. I always end up at the back of the pack behind several checkpoints by the midoint of the race and keep falling back. Is it just that sweaty? Or am I missing something? I usually use rented cars but the stats say fair perf so I assumed it would be similar to everyone elses cars.