Rivals, Is it Typical??

I’ve been racing in the rivals tab, going from one race to another, moving up through the class’s.
Is it typical that as I get up into the higher payouts,
that it takes a couple of laps to beat them?
This normally happens when I hit the 4,000 rival payouts.

TIA,
Steve “Michigan Rowdy”
(Older Wanna-Be Racer/Gamer Nerd)

Yeh it should as the rivals should be getting harder as the times should be getting faster

And here I thought it was just my,
Bad Driving line,
Lack of brake vs gas pedal,
Choosing the wrong car,
trying to figure out what upgrades to put on a car and keep it with-in that class i going against.