The notoriously tough Waste Management Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally was living up to its reputation on Saturday, with many of the series front-runners struggling—or out of the contest altogether.

“This is a crazy rally,” said Canadian Antoine L’Estage.

With five stages remaining Saturday, he remained in first place. But he saw his lead dwindle when problems with his turbocharger forced him and co-driver Nathalie Richard to limp into the second service break of the day.

The team’s service crew worked to fix their Hyundai Tiburon during the hour-long stop, but it remained unclear whether the repairs would hold.

Rockstar Energy’s Tanner Foust and co-driver Chrissie Beavis were in second place, 26 seconds behind L’Estage. But they were also fighting an ailing turbocharger that left them down on power in their Subaru WRX STi.

“With so much attrition, you just really have to have the goal of finishing,” said Foust.

In third place were Matt Johnson and Jeremy Wimpey who continued to report that it was smooth sailing on the stages.

With five stages remaining, Johnson said he wasn’t trying to be a hero. “The number one goal is no car damage at the end,” said Johnson. “Number two is to finish somewhere in the top five, hopefully.”

In fourth place were William Bacon and Peter Watt, ahead of “Cowboy” Kenny Bartram and co-driver Dennis Bartram, who were in fifth.

Early contest leaders Andy Pinker and co-driver Robbie Durant dropped into sixth as they continued to fight the mechanical issues that have dogged them all season.

The Rockstar Energy crew are low in the standings after suffering mechanical problems throughout the opening four rounds of the series. They had been looking to finish third or better at this event in the hopes he might earn an invitation to the X Games. Although they were determined to continue, it seemed unlikely he would be able to climb back onto the podium.

Many of the series frontrunners were out of the game altogether on Saturday. Andrew Comrie-Picard and co-driver Marc Goldfarb had been battling overheating problems in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX and retired after Stage 7. Kyle Sarasin and co-driver Mikael Johansson reported transmission failure in their Subaru WRX STi and retired after Stage 8.

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.

The attrition at the front of the pack was not unexpected at this challenging rally. 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 is simply “survival,” with teams forced to walk a fine line between preserving their competition cars and setting top times.

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