Wellsboro, PA — Canadian Antoine L'Estage took his second U.S. win of the season this weekend at the notoriously tough Waste Management Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally.

"I'm very happy," said L'Estage. "We were here to try and win."

It was a battle of attrition that claimed many top teams, but L'Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard drove to a clear victory.

The duo battled turbocharger problems that left their Hyundai Tiburon down on power early on Day 2, but they managed to hold onto their lead. They finished 17 seconds ahead of Rockstar Energy's Tanner Foust and co-driver Chrissie Beavis, who couldn't make up for lost time after having problems with their own turbocharger.

"Everybody suffered issues," said a philosophical Foust. "That's just rally racing."

Third place went to Matt Johnson and co-driver Jeremy Wimpey, who put in a clean performance to score their second podium finish of the season.

"It's great," said Johnson. "We're super happy to have the car in one piece at the end this weekend."

Arriving at the finish without major damage was a notable accomplishment at the brutal contest. The course is fast and technical with hazards off the line, and the hot weather is tough on the finely tuned competition cars. Foust said early on that the name of the game was simply "survival", with teams forced to walk a fine line between preserving their competition cars and setting top times.

Series leaders Andrew Comrie-Picard and co-driver Marc Goldfarb batted overheating problems in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX and retired early on Saturday. Even so, they remained at the top of the series standings at the end of the day.

Kyle Sarasin and co-driver Mikael Johansson reported transmission failure in their Subaru WRX STi and also called it quits on Saturday.

And it was not an easy debut for the new Subaru Rally Team USA rally cars. Ken Block retired on Day 1 with serious suspension failure in his '08 Subaru WRX STi, while Travis Pastrana rolled his '08 Subaru WRX STi early on Day 2.

With X Games invitations on the line at this event, it was a scramble to the finish for teams hoping to be among the 12 to compete in the high-profile contest. Aside from Tanner Foust, Ken Block and Travis Pastrana - the 2007 X Games medalists, who automatically secured an invitation to return - the top-six points scorers after this round are expected to get a chance to compete.

It is expected that series points leader Andrew Comrie-Picard, Matt Johnson, Antoine L'Estage, Kyle Sarasin, Pat Moro and Nathan Conley will all secure invitations to Los Angeles this summer.

Notably absent from the list is Rockstar Energy's Andy Pinker, who has been dogged by mechanical problems all season. He'll have a final chance to secure a "wildcard" invitation at the New England Forest Rally in Bethel, Maine, July 11-12.

Rally America is also expected to issue two additional "at large" invitations to athletes chosen from the broader community.

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.

2008 marked the 32nd running of the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally. This year, the event debuted a new event sponsor, Waste Management, and a new two-day format that includes competition on Friday as well as Saturday. Next, the championship moves to Bethel, Maine, for the Round 6 - the New England Forest Rally.

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