BEMIDJI, MN -- Travis Pastrana is in the hunt for his first-ever Rally America win at the Ojibwe Forests Rally this weekend in northern Minnesota.

The Subaru Rally Team USA driver has a 17 second lead over challenger Matt Iorio, with less than a third of the race to go. Although Iorio has been losing time to his rival all day, he said he is still most certainly a threat for the win.

“There’s a fine line between pushing the car to the limits and pushing the car off the road,” said Iorio. “I’m hoping to keep it safely on the road, but maybe I’m not pushing hard enough yet.”

Firmly in third place overall, with four stages remaining Saturday, is Italian driver Alfredo De Dominicis. He is more than a minute and a half behind the leaders.

Still to come is a crucial, 22-mile stage that will test teams’ endurance as the sun drops below the horizon in the 10,000 Lakes region of Minnesota, near the headwaters of the Mississippi River.

“We need to have a lead going into the long stage,” said Pastrana. “That stage will determine the winner.”

It could also determine a change in championship standings. Iorio is currently in fourth overall, but a good finish here could vault him into second place – ahead of Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block.

The Ojibwe Forests Rally is a driver favorite in the nine-event series, offering technically challenging, flowing roads. Drivers say they can build a good rhythm on this course and the soft roads are easy on competition cars.

Although widely expected to be a contender for the overall win at this rally, Subaru Rally Team USA teammate Ken Block crashed hard early in the first day and was out of the race.

Struggling for traction on the sandy surface, Block slid off the road and struck a tree head-on. Both he and co-driver Alex Gelsomino were unhurt, but the impact crumpled the front end of their Subaru WRX STi and it was not immediately clear whether the car – a very high-spec model built for the team’s recent X Games conquest - would drive again.

After eight stages Friday, the race resumed early Saturday afternoon with nine more competitive stages.

The Rally America Championship is the premier national rally series in the United States. Competitors vying for the title take on everything from snow and ice in northern Michigan in January, to the Nevada desert in December.

Rally car racing recently took the spotlight at X Games 12 in Los Angeles, where it debuted as a new action sport in the competition. Pastrana took the gold there after World Rally Championship veteran Colin McRae rolled just yards from the finish line.

Rally drivers are considered the best all-around drivers in motorsport due to their characteristic endurance and their ability to adapt to such a wide range of conditions and terrain.

Rally America, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, holds the sanctioning and marketing right to the Rally America Championship.

Competitors will next square off in Steamboat Springs, Co., for the Colorado Cog Rally.