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After Day One at the Sno*Drift Rally, 2011 American Rally Champions David Higgins and his co-driver Craig Drew of Subaru Rally Team USA have a comfortable lead over 2011 Canadian Rally Champion Antoine L'Estage and co-driver Nathalie Richard in their brand new Rockstar Energy Drink Mitsubishi Evo X.

That's the headline of the rally but the real story is the treacherous conditions of the forest roads near Atlanta and Lewiston, Michigan. The crews said the roads changed from gravel to mud to slushy snow to glare ice seemingly without warning.

The road conditions made the critical choice of tires nearly a 'cross-your-fingers-and-wish' for some teams.

"We'd pick up speed in the gravel," said Higgins, "then it was all I could to to keep the car straight on the ice right around the corner." He compared the roads to driving on the historic, mountain top Col du Turini stage at the Rallye Monte-Carlo with racing slicks.

L'Estage said he spun twice in the opening stage allowing Higgins to open a gap of 1:47.3 after five stages. That shrank to 1:34.2 Friday night when the crews returned to Atlanta for the overnight halt.

There were 12 special stages on Friday. There will be another 12 stages starting Saturday morning.

Third in the rally is popular Canadian driver CrazyLeo Urlichich and his co-driver Carl Williamson, a veteran co-driver who's run in more than 700 events around the world. CrazyLeo calls his 2007 Subaru Impreza 'The Beast'.

Urlichich finished second overall in the 2011 Canadian championship but he's 3:26.7 behind Higgins at the end of Friday's stages. This is his first American rally.

Last year's Sno*Drift winners, Travis Hanson and his father/co-driver Terry Hanson, are in fourth place, another three minutes out of third in their 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STI.

The Hansons have been nursing a problem in their engine that's been there since the event began. They're leading the Super Production category after Day One.

The fastest 2WD competitors are 2010 champion Chris Duplessis and his co-driver Carl Atkinson in a 2011 Ford Fiesta R2. They're tenth overall. Their closest competitors, Ford Fiesta driver Dillon Van Way and co-driver Jake Blattner are 13th overall.

Overall Results After Stage 12 - Provisional

1. David Higgins/Craig Drew 1:23:19.8
2. Antoine L'Estage/Nathalie Richard +1:34.2
3. CrazyLeo Urlichich/Carl Williamson +3:26.7
4. Travis Hanson/Terry Hanson +6:19.2
5. Joseph Burke / Paddy Robinson +8:00.8
6. Joel Levac/Stephanie Lewis +9:30.4
7. David Sterckx/Karen Jankowski +14:01.0
8. Patrick Moro/Scott Crouch +14:20.2
9. Lauchlin O'Sullivan/Scott Putnam +15:13.6
10. Christopher Duplessis/Karl Atkinson +16:07.5

Get more News & Updates from the Sno*Drift Rally here: http://bit.ly/vZX6N2