Michèle Mouton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michèle Mouton
Mouton in 2007.
World Rally Championship record
Nationality	French
Active years	1974–1986
Teams	Fiat Audi
World rallies	50
Championships	0
Wins	4
Podium finishes	9
Stage wins	160
Points	229
First world rally	1974 Tour de Corse
First win	1981 San Remo Rally
Last win	1982 Rally Brazil
Last world rally	1986 Tour de Corse

Michèle Mouton (born June 23, 1951 in Grasse) is a former French rally driver. She is the most successful and well-known female rally driver of all time, as well as arguably the most successful female in motor racing as a whole.^[1]

She was the first (and so far the only) woman to win a round of the World Rally Championship, in Sanremo in 1981. She went on to finish a close second overall in the 1982 WRC after wins in Portugal, Brazil and Acropolis, with only the unreliability of the Audi Quattro that she was driving ultimately enabling Opel rival Walter Röhrl to snatch the title.

Mouton with her Audi Quattro in 2007.

In 1985, she was the first woman to win the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb race in the US. Mouton effectively quit rallying after the Group B category was banned in late 1986, both unwilling to take part in a new, slower championship under Group A rules and eager to start a family. However, she was to be a key figure in the organization of the rallying Race of Champions in 1988, in memory of Henri Toivonen.

She also has taken part in the 1975 24 Hours of Le Mans, in an all-female team.

In 2000, she finished 2nd driving a Porsche 911 in the London Sydney Marathon with co-driver 1993 winner Francis Tuthill, behind ex-teammate Stig Blomqvist.