I don't consider getting beat by somebody "on the bottle" being defeated, just "R&D".
On the track, and thru the lights you probably would have won. (Unless, like you said, the heat and humidity hurt you too much.)
I sure wish somebody would come up with a way to to put a "gear" in our cars. A nice 3.73;1 or 3.90:1 would really wake up an automatic XF. It would make 1st. gear useless in a 6 speed though.