Michèle Mouton

Michèle Mouton

Nation:	France
World Rally Championship (WRC)
First rally:	Rally France 1974
Last rally:	Rally France 1986
Co-driver:	Fabrizia Pons Arne Hertz Terry Harryman Annie Arrii Françoise Conconi
Team:	Fiat France Audi Sport Peugeot Talbot Sport
Vehicle:	Audi Quattro Peugeot 205 T16 E2 Fiat 131 Abarth Alpine-Renault A310 V6 Lancia Stratos HF Autobianchi A112 Abarth
Rallies Victories Podiums WP 50 4th 9 162
Points:	229
As of October 4, 2014

Michèle Mouton (born June 23, 1951 in Grasse ) is a former French rally driver . She is considered the most successful and best-known rally driver in motorsport history. Since 2011 she has been the official WRC manager of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile .

Career

Michèle Mouton was the first woman to achieve overall victory in a World Rally Championship race when she won the San Remo Rally with her co-driver Fabrizia Pons in an Audi quattro in 1981 . Victories at the Rally Portugal , the Rally Greece and the Rally Brazil followed the following year. Nevertheless, in 1982 she just lost the drivers' championship against Walter Röhrl . Together with Stig Blomqvist and Hannu Mikkola , she won the Makes World Championship for Audi that year.

In 1984 she won the Open Rally Class (the forerunner of the Unlimited Class ) at the Pikes Peak hill climb in the USA after the Norwegian Martin Schanche , who had been in the lead by 11 seconds, suffered a puncture after about a third of the distance. In 1985 she was the first female driver to secure overall victory there in an Audi Sport quattro with a new course record. In 1986 she was the first and so far only woman to win the German Rally Championship .

After several serious accidents, the FIA banned the further use of Group B vehicles in the World Rally Championship in 1986 . Shortly thereafter, Mouton ended her career. Since 1988 she has organized the annual Race of Champions with her former Swedish partner Fredrik Johnsson .

Awards and honors

• ADAC Motorsportman of the Year 1986
• Knight of the Legion of Honor by French President Nicolas Sarkozy (2011)

statistics

WRC results

year	team	automobile	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	rank	Points
1974	Michèle Mouton	Alpine-Renault A110 1800	MON C	SWE C	POR	KEN	GRE C	FIN	ITA	CAN	United States	GBR	FRA 12			-	*
1975	Michèle Mouton	Alpine-Renault A110 1800	MON	SWE	KEN	GRC	MAR	POR	FIN	ITA	FRA 7	GBR				-	*
1976	Michèle Mouton	Alpine-Renault A110 1800	MON 11	SWE	POR	KEN	GRC	MAR	FIN	ITA DNF						-	*
		Alpine-Renault A310 V6									FRA DNF	GBR
1977	Michèle Mouton	Autobianchi A112 Abarth	MON 24	SWE	POR	KEN	NZL	GRC	FIN	CAN	ITA					-	*
		Fiat 131 Abarth										FRA 8	GBR
1978	Michèle Mouton	Lancia Stratos HF	MON 7	SWE	KEN	POR	GRC	FIN	CAN	ITA	CIV					-	*
		Fiat 131 Abarth										FRA 5	GBR
1979	Fiat France	Fiat 131 Abarth	MON 7	SWE	POR	KEN	GRC	NZL	FIN	CAN	ITA	FRA 5	GBR	CIV		21st	12
1980	Fiat France	Fiat 131 Abarth	MON 7	SWE	POR	KEN	GRC	ARG	FIN	NZL	ITA	FRA 5	GBR	CIV		23	12
1981	Audi Sport	Audi Quattro	MON DNF	SWE	POR 4	KEN	FRA DNF	GRC DNF	ARG	BRA	FIN 13	ITA 1	CIV	GBR DNF		8th	30th
1982	Audi Sport	Audi Quattro	MON DNF	SWE 5	POR 1	KEN	FRA 7	GRC 1	NZL DNF	BRA 1	FIN DNF	ITA 4	CIV DNF	GBR 2		2	97
1983	Audi Sport	Audi Quattro A1	MON DNF	SWE 4	POR 2	KEN 3										5	53
		Audi Quattro A2					FRA DNF	GRC DNF	NZL DNF	ARG 3	FIN 16	ITA 7	CIV	GBR DNF
1984	Audi Sport	Audi Quattro A2	MON	SWE 2	POR	KEN DNF	FRA									12	25th
		Audi Sport Quattro						GRC DNF	NZL	ARG	FIN DNF	ITA	CIV	GBR 4
1985	Audi Sport	Audi Sport Quattro	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRC	NZL	ARG	FIN	ITA	CIV DNF	GBR		-	0
1986	Peugeot Talbot Germany	Peugeot 205 Turbo 16	MON DNF	SWE	POR	KEN										-	0
	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2					FRA DNF	GRC	NZL	ARG	FIN	CIV	ITA	GBR	United States

Comment:

• From 1973 to 1978 there was no drivers' world championship.

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement
1975	Société Esso	Moynet LM75	Marianne Hoepfner	Christine Dacremont	Rank 21 and class win

Web links

Commons : Michèle Mouton  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michèle Mouton (ewrc-results.com on October 4, 2014)