Michèle Hélène Raymonde Mouton (born 23 June 1951) is a French former rally driver. Competing in the World Rally Championship for the Audi factory team, she took four victories and finished runner-up in the drivers' world championship in 1982.
Mouton debuted in rallying as a co-driver but quickly moved to the driver's seat, steering an Alpine-Renault A110 in national rallies. In 1975, she competed in circuit racing and won the two-litre prototype class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After being signed by Fiat France for 1977, Mouton finished runner-up to Bernard Darniche in the European Rally Championship. She went on to win the 1978 Tour de France Automobile and record consistent results in her home events in the WRC; the Tour de Corse and the Monte Carlo Rally. For 1981, Audi Sport signed Mouton to partner Hannu Mikkola. In her first year with the Audi Quattro, she took a surprise victory at the Rallye Sanremo.
In the 1982 World Rally season, Mouton finished a close second overall to Walter Röhrl, after wins in Portugal, Brazil and Greece, and helped Audi to its first manufacturers' title. Her campaign the following year resulted in fifth place. With the team having four top drivers for 1984, Mouton's participation on world championship level became part-time. In 1985, she won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in the United States, setting a record time in the process. In 1986, she moved to Peugeot and won the German Rally Championship as the first female driver to win a major championship in rallying. Soon after securing the title, Mouton retired from rallying due to the ban of Group B rally. In 1988, she co-founded the international motorsport event Race of Champions in memory of her former rival Henri Toivonen. Mouton became the first president of the FIA's Women in Motorsport Commission in 2010 and the FIA's manager in the World Rally Championship in 2011.
Career
Early life and career
thumb|left|Mouton's [[1975 24 Hours of Le Mans|1975 Le Mans class-winning Moynet LM 75]]
Michèle Mouton was born 23 June 1951 in Grasse, a town on the French Riviera, close to the mountain stages famously featured in French rallies. Her parents grew roses and jasmine on their large property. After graduating from high school, Mouton began law studies, but would soon drop out and concentrate on a career in rallying. Although Mouton began driving her father's Citroën 2CV when she was 14 years old, she did not turn her interest to rallying until 1972, when her friend Jean Taibi asked her to practice the Tour de Corse with him. It was rumoured her good performances were the result of a special engine, however her car passed inspection by WRC scrutineers. Re-entering the Tour de Corse the following season, she took seventh place. Recalling the race in 2008, Mouton said: "It started to rain I remember, and I started to pass everybody. I was running on slicks. In the pits they were saying 'Michele you must stop', but I did not want to because I was passing everyone." Her results attracted a major sponsor in the form of the French oil company Elf. In Monte Carlo, she drove the car to seventh place in 1979 and 1980, equalling the result she had achieved in the event in a Lancia Stratos HF in 1978. She also finished runner-up to Bernard Darniche in the overall European Rally Championship (ERC). Mouton went on to win the Tour de France with the 131 Abarth the following year. At the Rallye d'Antibes, she finished third behind the Stratos drivers Darniche and Attilio Bettega. She placed fifth in the ERC standings and fourth in the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Cup for Drivers,
Audi
1980
In 1980, Audi Sport, Audi's new factory team, called Mouton and signed her for a World Rally Championship programme for the 1981 season. Mouton described Audi's call as "a complete shock". As the Audi Quattro, the first rally car to have over 300 bhp and both a turbocharger and four-wheel-drive, had not yet gained FIA homologation, Audi could only enter rallies as zero cars and not as competitive entries. Hannu Mikkola debuted the car in the Algarve Rally in October, and would have won by about thirty minutes had his times been officially registered. Mouton initially found the car understeering, but became more comfortable after switching to left-foot braking, as advised by Mikkola who was in charge of developing the car. The team later discovered that dirt had got into the fuel system. At the Rally Portugal, she started her long partnership with the Italian co-driver Fabrizia Pons. Mouton won seven stages and took a career-best fourth place, despite suffering from electronic problems. After a retirement due to a broken camshaft in the Tour de Corse, While Mikkola was leading and Mouton fifth, the stewards excluded the Quattros citing homologation infractions. Although Audi protested, the stewards upheld the decision. She recorded a few top-ten stage times and finished 13th. This marked the first time a female driver had won a world championship event in rallying. Mouton's male rivals were left speechless. Mouton recalled her debut win in a 2008 interview for RallySport Magazine:
<blockquote>I remember not just because it was a win, but also because it was a big fight right into the last night. Fabrizia reminded me the other night that we had a problem with the brake pads, so we lost a lot of time. We finished three days rallying (with one day to go), night and day, 32 seconds in front of Ari Vatanen. We drove the last special stage for the night, came back to the hotel and I could not sleep at all, four hours in front of me and no sleep. Then I arrive at the special stage, it's about 42 km long, and I look at Fabrizia and I said "OK, we forget everything, and we are at the first stage of the rally again, because one of us will crash." And so Ari hit a rock, and we won the rally. despite having been uncomfortable about competing in a rally where pacenotes and practice are not allowed. However, her Quattro later incurred gearbox problems and she retired from fifth place after sliding off the road into a snow-filled ditch. Mouton would later state: "For me, rallying is England. No pacenotes – just you in the car having to do the fastest time. This, to me, is rallying. OK, it was not easy for me because I did not have experience there of the British championship, but it is really rallying. I like it very much." while Audi was fifth in the manufacturers' standings.
1982
thumb|left|Mouton's Quattro in [[Monte Carlo Rally|Monte Carlo, between two Porsche 911 SCs]]
Mouton's 1982 season started with a big accident at the Monte Carlo Rally. On stage twelve in the small town Briançonnet in Provence, she hit a patch of ice and slid off the road, crashing into the stone wall of a large house at 110 km/h (70 mph). Mouton injured her knee while Pons suffered a concussion. She was running third when she slid into a snow bank, and crashed into the Quattro of teammate Hannu Mikkola who had gone off at the same place. She eventually finished fifth. She once admitted that to be competitive in the rally, she tried to think of the large crowds right by the side of the route as trees. At the Tour de Corse, she could not match the pace of the leaders and finished seventh. The event was overshadowed by two serious accidents, one of which killed a spectator. Mouton had commented: "I'm afraid that something might break in my car and I can no longer avoid hitting a spectator." she retired with a broken oil pump. After seven rounds, Mouton was second in the championship, 32 points behind Röhrl and 12 ahead of Eklund. The Rally of Brazil was marred by the fatal accident of Brazilian driver Thomas Fuchs, and featured chaotic conditions as parts of the course were not successfully closed for competition. Although only five teams made it to the finish, Mouton improved her title hopes by winning her duel with Röhrl after the German lost a wheel on the last day. On the following leg, Mouton drove too fast into a jump and damaged her Quattro while landing. After the next jump, her front wheels locked up and she rolled the car.
Audi had not originally planned to participate in the African marathon events, but now found it necessary to enter the penultimate round, the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire, due to their title battles with Opel. His last wish was that Mouton start the rally. Mikkola said that he had never been in such a hot car, and Röhrl estimated that the temperature inside his car reached an "almost unbearable" 70 °C (158 °F). On the third day, both Mouton and Röhrl struggled with several reliability issues and her lead over Röhrl shrank to 18 minutes. The Toyota Celica GT2000s of Eklund and Waldegård were still over two hours behind. She drove the severely damaged Quattro for five more kilometres before giving up. He believed that defeat would have devalued his performances. This result made Audi the first German marque to win the manufacturers' world title. At the inaugural Autosport Awards gala, Mouton won the International Rally Driver of the Year award.
1983
thumb|An ex-Mouton Quattro A2 at the 2009 [[Goodwood Festival of Speed]]
The 1983 season started the Group B era of the WRC and Mouton was now at the wheel of the Audi Quattro A1. She also had a new teammate; Audi had signed Stig Blomqvist as their third regular driver. For the third year in a row, Mouton had a bad start to her season in Monte Carlo. She went off the road on a stage not far from her home town, and again hit a stone wall at over 100 km/h (60 mph). The car was destroyed, but Mouton and Pons were unharmed. after an early driving error that had sent her Quattro into a snow bank. In Portugal, Mouton finished second to Mikkola, ahead of Lancia's Röhrl and Markku Alén. After the first section of the Safari Rally, totaling over 1,600 km (1,000 mi), Mouton arrived to the finish on three wheels and said she was "totally exhausted" from the effort. She eventually placed third behind Opel's Ari Vatanen and her teammate Mikkola. After four events, Mikkola and Mouton were first and second in the drivers' championship.
At the Tour de Corse, Audi debuted the Quattro A2, which was 70 kg (155 lb) lighter and had an engine producing 30 more horsepower. Mouton's rally ended when her engine caught on fire. On the first stage in Greece, she rolled her car on a hairpin turn 18 km (11 mi) from the start. Rally New Zealand was for Mouton a repetition of the previous year; she took the lead on the seventh stage and held on to it until her A2's engine failed, with only six of the 33 stages to go. The three retirements in a row dropped Mouton to fifth place in the championship. She then finished third behind Mikkola and Blomqvist at the Rally Argentina, but this would remain her last podium finish of the season. Her car later caught on fire, but she was able to continue in the event by following Mikkola's advice and driving into a lake. With a string of top-ten times, she eventually finished 16th. In the Rallye Sanremo, the tarmac stages were dominated by the Lancia 037 and Mouton finished seventh after suffering from fuel injection problems. In the season-ending RAC Rally, she started well and held second place after the first twelve stages. An Audi mechanic later accidentally refilled Mouton's fuel tank with pure water which resulted in time-consuming repairs. She eventually retired after crashing out, Although Mikkola beat Lancia's Röhrl and Alén to the drivers' title, competing in five WRC events. For the first time in nine years, she did not enter the Monte Carlo Rally. However, Mouton signed up to commentate the event for Radio Monte Carlo. She started her year well by finishing second at the Swedish Rally behind teammate and home favourite Blomqvist. Mouton later stated that "finishing second was fantastic. When you are out rallying on ice or snow in country like that it is like dancing. From one side to the other side. My dancing background helped my rallying. As soon as I started on gravel I liked it because of that. It was so nice to feel and move the car like that. Sweden, in ice and snow, like ballet!" She retired after falling victim to the team's ranking order; as the repairs were expected to take too long, Gumpert ordered championship leader Blomqvist's Quattro to be fixed by using Mouton's sister car as spares. Her debut in the new Sport Quattro at the Acropolis Rally ended with engine overheating problems. She later crashed and continued without a windscreen, but the damage to her Quattro could not be repaired in service. Mouton retired and left Finland pointless for the fourth year in a row. At the RAC Rally, a slight mistake led to a puncture and Mouton dropped from third to fifth. She went on to narrowly lose the final podium spot to Toyota's Per Eklund. Mouton's results placed her 12th in the drivers' world championship, a point behind Röhrl. Outside the WRC, Mouton debuted in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in the United States, driving an Audi Sport Quattro together with her usual co-driver Fabrizia Pons. After her main opponent Martin Schanche got hampered by a flat right front tyre she won the open rally category (now known as unlimited) in a record time and placed second overall, leaving behind several specialised V8 single-seaters that had normally dominated the race.
1985
thumb|Mouton with a Quattro S1 in 2007
Audi's WRC programme was limited for the 1985 season due to the recent defeats to Peugeot Talbot Sport, Peugeot's factory team headed by Jean Todt. Mouton and Mikkola were assigned to testing and development duties. After technical problems led to an early retirement at the Circuit of Ireland, she finished second at the Welsh Rally behind Malcolm Wilson in another Quattro. At the Scottish Rally, Mouton had been closing in on the leading Wilson until a transmission problem forced her to retire. At the Ulster Rally, she set the fastest time for the first stage but then dropped out with a mechanical failure. In the season-ending Manx International Rally, Mouton struggled to start her Quattro and then crashed out five stages later.
Mouton's only WRC event of the year was the long-distance Rallye Côte d'Ivoire. She was co-driven by Arne Hertz as Pons was ill at the time of the start. Mouton started well and tied the lead with Toyota's Juha Kankkunen after the first day. Her Quattro incurred severe engine problems on the next day, but was seemingly repaired by Audi mechanics off the route in the jungle. At the same time, the Sport Quattro "chase car", a high-speed service car, retired and Audi faced accusations of swapping the cars. Despite slippery conditions caused by a hailstorm, she broke Al Unser Jr.'s 1982 record by about thirteen seconds. The Frenchwoman's win irritated some of her male rivals. Bobby Unser was reputedly quite vocal about his loss, to which Mouton is said to have replied: "If you have the balls you can try to race me back down as well." She contested the German Rally Championship and two WRC events in a Peugeot 205 Turbo 16, with which the marque had captured the previous year's world titles. To replace the newly-wed Pons, Mouton recruited Terry Harryman who had been left jobless after Ari Vatanen's accident. won six of the eight events in the German championship, including the Rallye Deutschland. Although the Hessen Rallye was stopped after the severe accident of Formula One driver Marc Surer, which claimed the life of his co-driver Michel Wyder, Mouton was declared the winner. She secured the German national title on the seventh and penultimate round, the Sachs Baltic, after taking her fifth win of the season. She became the first female driver to win a major championship in rallying. but soon retired with oil pump problems. For the Tour de Corse in May, Mouton was given the second evolution of the car. She quickly showed good pace and held third place behind Lancia's Henri Toivonen and teammate Bruno Saby.
In October, two weeks after securing the German Rally Championship title, Mouton announced her retirement from rallying. She cited the end of the Group B era as the reason behind the decision, and stated that it was "a good time to stop".
Later career
thumb|left|Mouton driving a Quattro S1 during the [[2009 Race of Champions|2009 edition of the Race of Champions]]
In 1988, Mouton co-founded the international motorsport event Race of Champions with Fredrik Johnsson, in memory of Toivonen and to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the world championship for rally drivers. The event originally included the world's top rally drivers, but now features stars also from other disciplines, such as Formula One, NASCAR, Le Mans and MotoGP, competing against each other in identical cars. At the 1988 Rally of Tunisia, Mouton drove a 205 T16 Grand Raid chase car and transported spare parts for Vatanen and Henri Pescarolo, but also classified sixth overall. She later took part in the Dakar Rally as a press driver in 2004 and 2009. After 22 years, Mouton and Fabrizia Pons reunited to compete in the 2008 Otago Classic Rally in New Zealand. In 2010, Mouton competed with a 911 in the Rallye du Maroc and finished second to Grégoire De Mévius.
In 2010, Mouton became the first president of the FIA's Women & Motor Sport Commission. She stated that "for many years people have asked me why there have been no women following in my footsteps. I really hope the Commission can help answer that question and that we can attract and support women in all areas of our sport." Mouton also serves in the nomination committee of the Rally Hall of Fame. In March 2012, she recused herself after becoming a candidate for nomination. Mouton was inducted into the Hall of Fame along with two-time world champion Carlos Sainz.
Personal life and legacy
thumb|upright|Mouton interviewed in 1985
While announcing her retirement from rallying, Mouton stated her intention to start a family with Corsican sports journalist Claude Guarnieri. Mouton credited her father Pierre's support as the secret for her success: "He loved driving. He loved fast cars. And I think he would have loved to do what I did. He was a prisoner of war for five years and when he came back he never had the opportunity to compete. But he came to all the rallies I did. And my mother came, too." Mouton and Moss were of different eras and did not compete directly against each other, although they both appeared at the 1973 Monte Carlo Rally where Mouton co-drove. In 1985, they swapped cars in a private test session with Moss driving the Quattro and Mouton an Austin-Healey 3000. and Niki Lauda described her as a "superwoman".
In 2011, Mouton was made knight of the Legion of Honour (Légion d'honneur) by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. At the 50th International Emmy Awards in 2022, the documentary Queen of Speed about Mouton's rise to the top of rallying in the 1980s was awarded an Emmy for the Best Sports Documentary.
In 2024, Mouton was awarded the first ever FIA lifetime achievement award.
WRC victories
{| class="wikitable"
! scope="col" | Nº
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Rally
! scope="col" | Co-driver
! scope="col" | Car
|-
| align="center"|1.
| align="center"|1981
| Rallye Sanremo
| Fabrizia Pons
| Audi Quattro
|-
| align="center"|2.
| align="center" rowspan=3|1982
| Rally de Portugal
| Fabrizia Pons
| Audi Quattro
|-
| align="center"|3.
| Acropolis Rally
| Fabrizia Pons
| Audi Quattro
|-
| align="center"|4.
| Rally of Brazil
| Fabrizia Pons
| Audi Quattro
|-
!colspan="5"|
|}
Complete WRC results
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"
|-
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Entrant
! scope="col" | Car
! scope="col" | 1
! scope="col" | 2
! scope="col" | 3
! scope="col" | 4
! scope="col" | 5
! scope="col" | 6
! scope="col" | 7
! scope="col" | 8
! scope="col" | 9
! scope="col" | 10
! scope="col" | 11
! scope="col" | 12
! scope="col" | 13
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Points
|-
| 1974
! Michèle Mouton
! Alpine-Renault A110 1800
| MON<br /><small>C</small>
| SWE<br /><small>C</small>
| POR
| KEN
| GRE<br /><small>C</small>
| FIN
| ITA
| CAN
| USA
| GBR
|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| FRA<br /><small>12</small>
|
|
! N/A<br />
! N/A
|-
| 1975
! Michèle Mouton
! Alpine-Renault A110 1800
| MON
| SWE
| KEN
| GRC
| MAR
| POR
| FIN
| ITA
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| FRA<br /><small>7</small>
| GBR
|
|
|
! N/A<br />
! N/A
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1976
!rowspan="2"| Michèle Mouton
! Alpine-Renault A110 1800
|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MON<br /><small>11</small>
| SWE
| POR
| KEN
| GRC
| MAR
| FIN
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| ITA<br /><small>Ret</small>
|
|
|
|
|
!rowspan="2"| N/A<br />
!rowspan="2"| N/A
|-
! Alpine-Renault A310 V6
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| FRA<br /><small>Ret</small>
| GBR
|
|
|
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1977
!rowspan="2"| Michèle Mouton
! Autobianchi A112 Abarth
|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MON<br /><small>24</small>
| SWE
| POR
| KEN
| NZL
| GRC
| FIN
| CAN
| ITA
|
|
|
|
!rowspan="2"| N/A<br />
!rowspan="2"| N/A
|-
! Fiat 131 Abarth
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| FRA<br /><small>8</small>
| GBR
|
|
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1978
!rowspan="2"| Michèle Mouton
! Lancia Stratos HF
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| MON<br /><small>7</small>
| SWE
| KEN
| POR
| GRC
| FIN
| CAN
| ITA
| CIV
|
|
|
|
!rowspan="2"| N/A<br />
!rowspan="2"| N/A
|-
! Fiat 131 Abarth
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| FRA<br /><small>5</small>
| GBR
|
|
|-
| 1979
! Fiat France
! Fiat 131 Abarth
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| MON<br /><small>7</small>
| SWE
| POR
| KEN
| GRC
| NZL
| FIN
| CAN
| ITA
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| FRA<br /><small>5</small>
| GBR
| CIV
|
! 21st
! 12
|-
| 1980
! Fiat France
! Fiat 131 Abarth
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| MON<br /><small>7</small>
| SWE
| POR
| KEN
| GRC
| ARG
| FIN
| NZL
| ITA
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| FRA<br /><small>5</small>
| GBR
| CIV
|
! 23rd
! 12
|-
| 1981
! Audi Sport
! Audi Quattro
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| MON<br /><small>Ret</small>
| SWE
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| POR<br /><small>4</small>
| KEN
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| FRA<br /><small>Ret</small>
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| GRC<br /><small>Ret</small>
| ARG
| BRA
|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| FIN<br /><small>13</small>
|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| ITA<br /><small>1</small>
| CIV
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| GBR<br /><small>Ret</small>
|
! 8th
! 30
|-
| 1982
! Audi Sport
! Audi Quattro
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| MON<br /><small>Ret</small>
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SWE<br /><small>5</small>
|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| POR<br /><small>1</small>
| KEN
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| FRA<br /><small>7</small>
|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| GRC<br /><small>1</small>
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| NZL<br /><small>Ret</small>
|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| BRA<br /><small>1</small>
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| FIN<br /><small>Ret</small>
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| ITA<br /><small>4</small>
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| CIV<br /><small>Ret</small>
|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| GBR<br /><small>2</small>
|
|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| 2nd
|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| 97
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1983
!rowspan="2"| Audi Sport
! Audi Quattro A1
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| MON<br /><small>Ret</small>
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SWE<br /><small>4</small>
|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| POR<br /><small>2</small>
|style="background:#FFDF9F;"| KEN<br /><small>3</small>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
!rowspan="2"| 5th
!rowspan="2"| 53
|-
! Audi Quattro A2
|
|
|
|
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| FRA<br /><small>Ret</small>
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| GRC<br /><small>Ret</small>
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| NZL<br /><small>Ret</small>
|style="background:#FFDF9F;"| ARG<br /><small>3</small>
|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| FIN<br /><small>16</small>
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| ITA<br /><small>7</small>
| CIV
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| GBR<br /><small>Ret</small>
|
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1984
!rowspan="2"| Audi Sport
! Audi Quattro A2
| MON
|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| SWE<br /><small>2</small>
| POR
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| KEN<br /><small>Ret</small>
| FRA
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
!rowspan="2"| 12th
!rowspan="2"| 25
|-
! Audi Sport Quattro
|
|
|
|
|
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| GRC<br /><small>Ret</small>
| NZL
| ARG
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| FIN<br /><small>Ret</small>
| ITA
| CIV
|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| GBR<br /><small>4</small>
|
|-
| 1985
! Audi Sport
! Audi Sport Quattro
| MON
| SWE
| POR
| KEN
| FRA
| GRC
| NZL
| ARG
| FIN
| ITA
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| CIV<br /><small>Ret</small>
| GBR
|
! NC
! 0
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1986
! Peugeot Talbot Deutschland
! Peugeot 205 Turbo 16
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| MON<br /><small>Ret</small>
| SWE
| POR
| KEN
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
!rowspan="2"| NC
!rowspan="2"| 0
|-
! Peugeot Talbot Sport
! Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2
|
|
|
|
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| FRA<br /><small>Ret</small>
| GRC
| NZL
| ARG
| FIN
| CIV
| ITA
| GBR
| USA
|-
!colspan="18"|
|}
Notes
See also
- List of female World Rally Championship drivers
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
- Michèle Mouton at FIA.com