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Audi RS6 sets new ice-speed record


Finnish tyre manufacturer Nokian Tyres equipped a previous generation Audi RS6 with a set of studded winter tyres - measuring a whopping 20in in size - and stormed a really big and really cold bit of lake in Finland's Gulf of Bothnia. It's really ruddy cold up there.

Nokian's Audi RS6 - itself packing 572bhp and four-wheel-drive and a little bit of sheer terror - made two passes of the 7.5-mile untreated ice surface within the hour at "extreme speeds"; when travelling in this spirited manner, the RS6 was doing over 93 metres per second, with the studs on the tyres ploughing the ice 43 times per second.

Driver Janne Laitinen managed to hit 208.602mph (335.7km/h), which smashes his previous top speed, by 2.6mph. At one point during the run, Nokian's very own ‘Iceman' hit 211mph. Probably best not to remind him to keep the tyres warm though, as we suspect he knows what he's doing.

Loeb wins in Finland


Sébastien Loeb dominated the Finns at their own game to take his 73rd career WRC win. 

The Frenchman, chasing his ninth successive championship, finished ahead of local favourite and team mate Mikko Hirvonen with another Finn, Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala, in third place.
Loeb finished the final Ouninpohja 2 stage 6.1 seconds ahead of Hirvonen, who lost precious time in the morning when he hit a tree. Latvala was a further 28.9 adrift.
 
Norway's Petter Solberg was fourth in a Ford.
 
The victory was Loeb's sixth in eight races this season, 73rd of his career, and he led from start to finish. The Frenchman now has 171 points to Hirvonen's 128 with five rounds remaining.
 
"It's very satisfying to win in Finland," said the Frenchman. "I didn't come here especially to win, I came for points because it's very difficult to beat the Finnish drivers.
 
"It was a great fight with Mikko, a one-two for Citroen and great for the championship."

 TOP TEN FINAL
1 Loeb
2 Hirvonen +6.1s
3 Latvala +35.0s
4 Solberg +56.1s
5 Ostberg +2:32.1s
6 Tanak + 2:47.6s
7 Rantanen +4:51.7s
8 Ketomaa + 6:01.9s
9 Prokop + 6:04.3s
10 Ogier + 8:46.0s

Craig Breen crash Finland