I don't think you're giving enough credit to the front running ITS cars. They'll handle fine and may outlast the FWD handling over the course of the race. In general the ITS cars will have a hard time passing you in T1 due to their relatively poor braking performance and slightly higher terminal velocity.
With respect to blocking - I have worked on Jeff's TR8 a lot and you do not want to be on the wrong end of that battering ram. Lots of thick heavy steel in the nose of that car. :-)
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