Audi Le Mans win dedicated to Alboreto

The Italian was set to drive at Le Mans this year, but was killed while testing this weekend's race-winning Audi R8 sportscar model at the Lausitzring in April.

Pirro spoke candidly after winning what has been described as one of the toughest Le Mans ever after the race was beset by intermittent heavy rainfall throughout. The Italian says losing Alboreto made it very hard for the him to come back to La Sarthe this year, but also made Sunday's victory all the more special.

"The more difficult things are, the more satisfying they are when you achieve them," said Pirro. "It's like climbing Mount Everest - it's bloody tough. It was very hard after what happened with Michele... It was in-house and it was difficult to come here. But it makes this achievement really incredible."

The number one Audi dominated the race and was followed home by the sister car of Laurent Aiello, Rinaldo Capello and Christian Pescatori. This year's whitewash from the Ingolstadt marque comes after works Audis finished one-two-three at Le Mans last year.

The R8 machines were expected to dominate again this year, but Pirro insists that this only makes winning harder and although the cars led for 23 of the 24 hours, the 39-year-old says there was a lot of luck involved.

"We have a huge responsibility, because those bloody cars, they never break," said Pirro. "Everybody expected us to win, that's for sure. But those with a bit of motor racing knowledge know that there is no such thing as a sure win. You have to go through lots of question marks, problems and dangers before it happens. And I really mean it - to have an achievement like this you really need a lot of luck as well."