BETHEL, ME -- The battle is on for the "wildcard" X Games invitation at the New England Forest Rally.

The best rally drivers from across North America are fighting for a chance to attend the biggest rally contest on the continent early next month in Los Angeles. The top finishing driver who hasn’t already secured an invitation to the August 5 X Games Rally will earn one here.

After five stages, defending Canadian champion Antoine L’Estage and co-driver Mark Williams were leading the charge -- and in the hunt for the overall lead. The duo were six seconds behind Subaru Rally Team USA driver Travis Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom.

As winners of the 2006 X Games Rally, Pastrana and Edstrom were the first to receive their invitation for the X Games.

A leading contender in the Canadian Rally Championship, L’Estage is a rare figure on the U.S. scene. He started, but failed to finish, the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally earlier this year. "I want to finish a U.S. rally," said L’Estage Friday. "And if we have a shot at the win, we’ll go for it."

The lure of the wildcard spot has also prompted several teams to change classes for the race. PGT drivers Kenny Bartram and Matt Johnson have both stepped up into the faster Open class, but both found themselves off the pace early in the contest as they began to learn how best to take advantage of the increased power and handling available with their new cars. "I would love to be in the X Games," said Johnson, who was in sixth overall after five stages. "I have to be here fighting for it."

And even though Bartram was in 10th after five stages, he was philosophical about his chances. "It’s rallying. It isn’t about going fast - it’s about going just fast enough," he said.

Series leader Andrew Pinker, meanwhile, was in a surprising ninth place overall after suffering three flat tires in four stages. He came racing into the first service break of the day on a badly cracked rim after slamming into a large rock on stage three that took out two of his tires and damaged parts in the front and rear of his competition Subaru. His service crew worked until the final seconds of the service break to get the car ready to return to the race, and Pinker said he hoped to claw back enough time on Day 2 to extend his championship lead.

Subaru Rally Team USA’s Ken Block and co-driver Alessandro Gelsomino was in third after five stages, while Matt Iorio and co-driver Ole Holter were in fourth. Stephan Verdier and co-driver Scott Crouch were leading the PGT class. Kyle Sarasin and co-driver Mikael Johansson were leading Group 5 and the Group 2 leader was Christopher Duplessis and co-driver Martin Headland. James Robinson and co-driver Andrew Jessup were leading the Production class.

Meanwhile, contender Paul Choiniere was out early with apparent engine trouble. Several other top teams were notably absent from the contest.

Tanner Foust opted to sit this one out due to a scheduling conflict with his other competition series - Formula Drift. Also absent were X Games contenders Andrew Comrie-Picard and Ramana Lagemann; it is believed neither driver was willing to risk damage to his competition car so close to the California contest.

The New England Forest Rally -- formerly known as the Maine Forest Rally -- is one of the most eagerly anticipated races on the Rally America calendar. Round six of the 2007 Rally America championship, the two-day contest challenges teams to take on rough and rugged logging roads with some of the longest stage roads on the circuit. Quintessential northeastern settings such as winding creeks and one-lane bridges add not only beauty to the race, but also added excitement at breakneck speeds.

WRC champ Colin McRae, Pastrana, Block, Choiniere, Foust, Iorio, Pinker, Comrie-Picard and Lagemann have already qualified for the 12-car X Games field. In addition to the driver named here, two others will be selected from the racing community at large.

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.

Complete television coverage of the Rally America Championship airs on ESPN2. The X Games Rally goes live-to-air on August 5.