Do opposition cars level up during a championship?

[mekonrider]

I've just done the expert Japanese championship with a 370-80hp premium r33 (ECU, cat, filter, exhaust) and the competition seemed to vary wildly each race.

The first 3 races the MR2 gts came last, I wasn't surprised as it was down as having around 260hp in the 'typical opponents list'. I even had a lack of attention spin at Grand Valley, was 12s behind on the 3rd lap and dragged it back to win. Come the 4th race the mr2 suddenly comes alive and starts harrassing me, I won but couldn't drop it off.

The last race at Suzuki I wasn't on it 100% because I wanted my 5 golds but this 260hp MR2 is now all over me for 5 laps. Anyway, do the cars mod up between races? It certainly seemed that way.

 

[KForceOH]

It does seem to me that on different tracks the ai are different speeds. Sometimes you win by +35 sometimes its +4. Also depends on what is going on in the field behind you.