For those who asked his speed. Its about a 13 mile track. So he was averaging about 60mph. So probably 40 in the corners and 100+ on the few straights.
He is able to do that 100% because of the snow tires.
And AWD does matter if you plan on going that fast in thicker snow. Here is another awesome snow race.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S2GwLUN-8Q(Most important part to this discussion starts 3 minutes in.) This race happens on thicker snow. This one is great specifically because that Ferrari has AWD in 4 gears, but only 2 wheel drive in 5th gear. Their logic being you wouldn't have a Ferrari in 5th gear on ice...... The formula 1 driver(the Stig) has no problem at all 'until' he hits 5th gear and the car spins out. And he does even better in the full AWD Bentley. A Bentley can actually take a Ferrari... assuming you are on lightly packed snow.
Now AWD matters in thicker snow because you can completely lose traction in 1 or more tires, especially without snow tires. However I've driven what people would probably consider the worst cars for snow* and gotten around just fine. You just have to pay attention to what you are doing and be smart about it.
* Old Mustang with summer tires. Lots of torque only to the rear tires where there is almost no weight. You get lots of tire spin without going anywhere. I actually took the transmission out of a broken down car, wrapped it in plastic, and stuck it in the trunk for 'weight'. Drove like a dream in snow after that.