This was a definite irritant in the original game, often in the other direction - you take pole by a ten second margin then are left in the dust at the start of the race.
All this is easily adjusted in the AIW files, though there are no settings that work equally well for all types of cars (I keep a txt file in each track folder with my preferred settings for different series, so a simple copy/paste before a race weekend).
My procedure-
- Set in-game AI strength to 100
- In the AIW file set mid-adjust, qualratio, and raceratio to 1.000 (use mid-adjust if you normally run AI strength around 100, worst adjust if AI strength 80 or less, best adjust if AI strength 120 or more)
- Start a practice session (accelerate if you like) and note the AI times, tweak mid-adjust to get those times where you want them
- Start a qualifying session (do not accelerate), tweak qualratio to set AI times
- Start a race (accelerate if you want), tweak raceratio to set AI times
- If there is too much, or too little, spread in the times, tweak AIRange to adjust (this will affect practice, qual, and race); very small adjustments can make a big difference.
Qualratio and raceratio are independent and only affect those sessions; mid-adjust affects practice, qual, and race, so tweaks to it usually mean readjusting the ratios.
All values represent percentages, so 1.00=100%, 0.90=90%, etc.
Once you've balanced all this, AI performance will be consistent across all sessions, and will track appropriately with changes in the in-game strength setting.
Note that these edits will not apply if a season has been started, though they will stay in the AIW file. Apparently this data is read into the season file when you start.