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It’s the Bentley that dances on ice! The Crewe firm is celebrating setting a new ice world speed record of 330.7kmh (205.48mph). Four-times world rally champion Juha Kankkunen drove a Continental SuperSports Convertible to the new record on the frozen waters of the Baltic Sea.

Kankkunen is no stranger to setting top speeds on ice, as he set the outgoing record of 199.83mph in a Continental GT in 2007. However, this time he smashed the 200mph barrier with a specially modified SuperSports convertible. The car featured a full roll cage and a parachute for safety, extended front and rear spoilers for extra stability and 20-inch Pirelli winter tyres. The car also ran on E85 bioethanol.

The record attempt was held on a 16.5km track on a 70cm-thick layer of sea ice off the coast of Finland. The record attempt was driven on a 1000m long section of the track, with the average speed of a run in each direction taken to calculate the record figure.

Wolfgang Dürheimer, Bentley’s new Chairman and Chief Executive, said, “The ice speed record is an amazing feat by Juha Kankkunen. We will be celebrating this achievement with a very special ‘extreme’ Bentley, which will be the most powerful model ever to bear the famed Winged B emblem.”

A limited edition of just 100 examples of this most extreme Bentley, called the SuperSports Plus, will be made and the car will make its global debut at the Geneva Motor Show.

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The new world record for fastest car on ice was set by Nokian Tyres' test driver Janne Laitinen who drove 331,610 km/h (206,05 mph) on the Gulf of Bothnia in Oulu, Finland. The record was broken on March 6th on a 14-kilometre ice track in freezing conditions.

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