Wellsboro, PA — Rockstar Energy driver Andy Pinker took the early lead at the Waste Management Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally, while it was a tough start for Subaru Rally Team USA in their new competition cars.

Pinker, who is far back in the series standings after suffering mechanical problems throughout the opening four rounds of the series, is looking to score maximum points at this event in the hopes he can earn an invitation to the X Games. Pinker won this event in 2007.

“Good for him to have started fast, but I won’t let him go,” said Canadian Antoine L’Estage, who ended Day 1 in a virtual tie for second place with Rockstar Energy’s Tanner Foust. Just over two seconds separated second and third place.

Foust said the name of the game early in the contest was simply “survival," with teams forced to walk a fine line between preserving their competition cars and setting top times.

Subaru drivers Ken Block and Travis Pastrana both suffered Day 1 suspension trouble with their new ’08 Subaru STi rally cars. Block was unable to continue through the second stage of the contest, while Pastrana dropped into ninth place after the first two stages.

Current series points leader Andrew Comrie-Picard finished the opening stages in fourth-place overall, battling overheating problems with the engine in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. In fifth place after the opening stages was driver Matt Johnson, who said Friday he planned to take a conservative approach to the contest.

“The number one goal is no car damage at the end,” said Johnson. “Number two is to finish somewhere in the top five, hopefully.”

STPR is running for a 32nd year in 2008. Vehicles will rally through the state forests near the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon on Friday and Saturday. This year, the event has debuted a new event sponsor, Waste Management, and a new format that includes rallying for the first time on Friday as well as Saturday.

Competition returns to the challenging terrain on Saturday.

In addition to championship points, drivers are vying for a starting position at the summer X Games this August in Los Angeles. Top scorers after this, the fifth, round of the championship are expected to secure an invitation to the high-profile contest. The Summer X Games is broadcast live on ABC and ESPN.

Rally car racing is considered the extreme sport of automobile racing and is often described simply as “real cars, real roads, real fast.” This all-season motorsport sees drivers and their co-drivers take modified road cars to the limit as they achieve blistering speeds over courses that cover more than 100 miles of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads.

Based in Golden Valley, Minn., Rally America sanctions the premier rally racing series in the United States, the Rally America National Championship Series.