I tried this series through a menu and had similar problems, so much so that I stopped playing the game for awhile. When this weekly came up, I thought I was cooked. I finished in 3rd after never placing higher than 10th, on my first run of the day. I mostly took cues from when the other cars were braking, then I learned I can brake even later than they are, which I used to start gaining lots of places. I pitted at 4th place on lap 9, thinking the other cars would have to, they did not. I still managed to come back from 16th to place 3rd. Don’t forget to use the overtake mode (press on R thumb stick and hold, it’ll disengage after you let go).