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AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala, driving a Ford Focus, came from behind on the final stage to win the Rally of New Zealand on Sunday, edging overnight leader Sebastien Ogier of France by 2.4 seconds. World championship leader Sebastien Loeb of France continued an astonishing comeback to lead the rally after the first of four stages on the final day but swiped a bank on the next stage and finished third, 15.2 seconds behind Latvala. The error ended Loeb's run of three straight rally wins, though he retained overall lead in the world drivers' championship, 36 points ahead of Latvala. The Rally of New Zealand is the fifth round of the world championship. Loeb had dropped 1 minute, 40 seconds off the rally lead after crashing into a railway bridge on the fourth of nine stages on day one, but launched a stunning fightback to lie second and only 5.3 seconds off Ogier's lead at the end of the second day. He was fourth-fastest behind stage winner Mikko Hirvonen on Sunday's opening stage but that was enough to lift him into the overall lead, 4.5 seconds ahead of Ogier, and to raise the possibility of his fourth-straight win in this year's championship. Loeb slid off the road on the final day during the second stage one of the world championship's most famous stages along the scenic Whaanga Coast in the north of New Zealand's North Island. The error saw Loeb slip back to fourth place, 21.7 seconds behind Ogier, and though he again made up time in the last two stages he was unable to pull off his third win in New Zealand. Ogier, driving a Citroen, was poised for his first victory in a WRC rally when he led by 6.2 seconds starting the last of the rally's 21 stages, a second 29-kilometer (18-mile) run along the Whaanga Coast. He carried his lead within three corners of the stage finished when he spun off, allowing the hard-charging Latvala to grab the lead for the third win of his WRC career. "I really went fast and towards the end I was almost off the road myself," Latvala said. "I thought it was going to be too little but at the end it was enough. We were a little bit lucky but it feels really good." Latvala's winning margin of 2.4 seconds was the second smallest in WRC rallies in the past decade behind Marcus Gronholm's 0.3 second win over Loeb in New Zealand in 2007. Latvala's win also made Ford the most successful manufacturer in WRC history. "It was so close," Ogier said. "I did a spin three corners before the end. It's a big shame." Norway's Petter Solberg, who led the rally after the first day but dropped to fifth, 53.6 seconds from Ogier's lead after the second, charged back into the third place after three stages Sunday, then crashed out of contention on the final stage. Solberg's Citroen left the road and struck an electricity pylon. Both he and co-driver Phil Mills were uninjured. Spain's Dani Sordo was fastest on the final stage 0.5 seconds ahead of Latvala while Ogier was fifth fastest, 9.1 seconds behind the stage-winner and 8.6 seconds slower than Latvala. Loeb was left to regret the mistake Sunday which cost him his chance of extending his winning streak. "I started to understeer on the gravel and I lost the car," he said. "I hit some bushes with the rear and put the front in and then I hit a tree. The main problem was I was there for maybe 30 seconds.".
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