Answering the first question, impdp does not performs a restore but an import. A restore implies that the datafiles are physically indentical, impdp cannot offer that certainty.

In regards to the actual issue please do this. Before executing you process check the statistics of all involved tables, the data you want to catch is num_rows, sample_size and last_updated. If you see different values for any of these three attributes when slow and fast processes happens it means that a process is gathering statistics then causing Oracle to choose a different execution plan.