Yeah, its just yet another major oversight on PD's part. I'm willing to bet it is a regression error that was caused by their updates to the A.I. behavior. If it isn't a regression, then shame on PD for never actually running this event during their QA phase (assuming of course they had a QA phase).
The A.I. drivers really bug me in this series. Let me state the reasons...
1) A.I. crashes every lap at Nurburgring. There is no challenge in the race except to stay on the track and not hit them when they re-enter the track.
2) A.I. has the wrong gearing for Monza. They hit the rev limiter on just about every straight.
3) A.I. changes their behavior when you approach them...
3.a) If you follow too close entering a turn, they brake early, WAY EARLY, causing you to crash into them. They seem to feel threatened by cars behind them when they should really only worry about you when you are actually passing.
3.b) If you follow too close exiting a turn, they never hit the gas until well after the apex, causing you to crash into them and lift off. Meanwhile they brake when you hit them, blocking you, then shoot down the straight while you try to figure out what just happened.
4) A.I. drivers appear to have better brakes. I just can't seem to ghost them without ramming.
So basically, you cannot follow A.I. drivers. If you get within a certain distance you might as well just pass because you never know when they are going to brake or accelerate. They will run such a slow pace when you are behind them that you'll never catch the next car in the pack if you don't just plow through. I have never had this problem in any other racing game. I was happier with GT4 when they just ran the same line and you had to drive around them. At least you knew what they were going to do. With GT5 its like driving behind someone on the highway who is brake checking you every 10 seconds.
But with that said, if you eventually do get to the front at Cote d'Azur, 20 clean laps with the A.I. in your rearview the entire time...is extremely intense!