Auto-racing: Ferrari ace Alboreto dies

Italian motor racing driver Michele Alboreto has been killed in an accident while test driving a new Audi racing car in Germany.

The 44-year-old died after the car span out of control and turned over on a straight section of the Lausitzring circuit, in what Audi’s sporting chief Wolfgang Ullrich called an "incomprehensible tragedy."

The carmaker said it didn’t yet know what caused the crash, adding that the new R8 car had already completed thousands of kilometers (miles) of tests on various circuits without incident.

Alboreto, born in Milan Dec. 23, 1956, broke into Formula One with the Tyrrell team in 1981 and won his first race in Las Vegas that year and again in Detroit two years later.

He was hired by Ferrari in 1984 and a year later came close to becoming the first Italian to win the drivers’ championship in more than 30 years, finished second behind the Frenchman Alain Prost.

"Alboreto was an important driver in the Ferrari history," said Ferrari chairman Luca Di Montezemolo. "His death caused me a deep sorrow."