Mouton at the Geneva Motor Show, 2011. Photo credit Fabien Rochet.
With a passion for skiing and dance and a natural athletic ability that was clear from an early age, Michele Mouton likely could have been a ballerina, a gymnast or a competitive downhill racer. Had she kept up with her college coursework, she very well could have been a successful lawyer, given her fearless demeanor and raw determination. Instead, the girl from Grasse, France, would grow up to become one of the dominant forces in World Rally Championship competition in the 1980s, ushering in the era of the fearsome Group B cars and establishing new perceptions of what women were capable of in motorsports.
Born in June 1951, nothing in her early years signaled that a career in motorsports was her destiny. Her parents grew roses and jasmine, and the family automobile was a sensible and non-sporting Citroen 2CV. At age 14, however, Mouton took it upon herself to learn to drive, and soon began borrowing her father’s Citroen for trips around the family’s property. Though these were hardly timed laps, perhaps they were enough to trigger a passion for driving that would later shape her career path.
In 1972, while Mouton was studying law in college, Jean Taibi asked her to help him prepare for the 1972 Tour de Corse rally. Despite her inexperience, Mouton wasted no time in learning the basics of rally navigation, and when Taibi later invited her to participate as a co-driver in the 1973 Monte Carlo Rally, she agreed. Though the team failed to complete the rally thanks to mechanical difficulty with their Peugeot 304, Mouton proved herself to be a capable and fearless navigator, and Taibi asked her to co-drive in several more races during the 1973 WRC season.
Mouton’s father began to worry about the risks associated with his daughter’s new-found passion for motorsports, and reasoned that she’d be safer as a driver than as a navigator. The pair stuck a deal: Mouton’s father would buy her a 1600cc Alpine-Renault A110, and she would have one year to prove her ability or move on to more sensible pursuits. Challenge accepted, Mouton began racing in local rallies and hillclimbs, and very quickly demonstrated that she was just as fast as those with far more experience. By the time her “probationary year” was up, Mouton had completed her first international rally at the Tour de Corse, and had captured both the French Ladies Championship and the French GT Class championship. A return to her studies was no longer a consideration.
The Le Mans class-winning Moynet JRD-LM75. Photo credit Zantafio56.
Inspired by her rookie year success, Mouton upgraded her Alpine-Renault A110 to the larger 1800cc engine for 1975, which helped to deliver her first class win at the Tour de Corse (and a seventh-place overall finish). Entering the 24 Hours of Le Mans with female co-drivers Mariane Hoepfner and Christine Dacremont, Mouton and her team drove to a two-liter class win behind the wheel of a Moynet JRD-LM75, demonstrating that her ability to race a car extended beyond the realm of rally stages. Throughout the remainder of 1975 and into the 1976 season, Mouton focused primarily on rallying, and with co-driver Francois Conconi regularly produced top-10 finishes.
As the 1970s came to a close, Mouton proved her talents behind the wheel of a variety of cars, including the unforgiving, short-wheelbase Lancia Stratos HF. In 1977, Fiat France hired her to drive for its works team, and despite the fact that Mouton disliked the Fiat 131 Abarth, she still proved adept at delivering positive results. Perhaps it was this consistency that prompted Audi to recruit her at the end of the 1980 season, but the novelty value of hiring a woman driver (albeit a fast one) to represent its new WRC effort certainly contributed to Mouton’s hiring. Teamed with co-driver Fabrizia Pons (herself a rally driver and motocross racer), Mouton would debut the new all-wheel-drive Audi Quattro in the 1981 WRC season, while teammate Hannu Mikkola would drive the second Audi team car with co-driver Arne Hertz.
At the season-opening 1981 Monte Carlo Rally, Mouton and Mikkola were both fast in practice, but Mikkola would retire early following a crash. Mouton would also fail to finish, the victim of contaminated fuel, but in Portugal, the season’s third event, Mouton would finish in fourth position, delivering Audi its first WRC finish. At Rallye Sanremo in Italy, the season’s 10th event, Mouton would drive to a win, the first for the Audi team and a first for a woman in the WRC series. Coincidentally, it was also the first win for an all-wheel-drive car in WRC competition, but within a few years this would become the predominant platform.
Mouton at the 1984 RAC Rally in the U.K. Photo credit Clive Horsman.
Retained as a factory driver for Audi in 1982, Mouton was no longer seen as a novelty. Her fearless driving style had earned her the respect of competitors, and throughout most of the 1982 season, Mouton found herself in the position to win the WRC title. The deciding race was the penultimate Rallye Cote d’Ivoire, and with a strong finish Mouton would have taken the championship. Instead, a crash took her out of contention for both the event win and the season championship, which ultimately went to Walter Röhrl, then driving for Opel.
In 1983, Mouton returned to Audi for the beginning of the Group B era, which featured cars producing 600 (or more) horsepower, sporting tube-frame chassis and all-wheel drive. Though Mouton gave her all, her season was plagued with crashes and DNFs; teammate Hannu Mikkola would go on to claim the championship, while Mouton would finish a disappointing fifth. Worse, new Audi team driver Stig Blomqvist finished fourth, ahead of Mouton by 36 points.
Mouton would return to the Audi team in 1984 and 1985, but both efforts would be for partial seasons only, and in 1985 Mouton focused her efforts on winning the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. A trip to the mountain in 1984 netted a second place finish for Audi and Mouton, who was convinced there was still an opportunity for glory in Colorado. She proved this in 1985, taking victory on the mountain with a record time of 11:25:38, despite encountering a hailstorm on her way up the course. The idea of a French woman driving a German car to victory at Pikes Peak didn’t sit well with some, allegedly prompting an irritated Mouton to challenge Bobby Unser to “race me back down as well.”
Mouton would drive for Peugeot in 1986, but only in two rounds of the world championship. When Henri Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresta were burned to death in the crash of their Lancia Delta S4, the WRC’s governing body had no choice but to intervene, banning the Group B cars for the 1987 season. The era ended, and with it, Mouton walked away from rallying to focus on a life outside of motorsports.
Though her professional driving career was over, Mouton co-founded the annual International Race of Champions (with Fredrik Johnsson) in 1988, in memory of her late friend Henri Toivonen. In the years since, she has occasionally returned to rallying, sometimes as a competitor and sometimes as a support driver. In 1988, while driving a chase car in a support role for Peugeot, Mouton’s stage times put her sixth overall, and as late as 2010 she was still driving in events like the Rallye du Maroc. That same year, Mouton became the first president of the FIA’s Women & Motor Sport Commission, and in 2011 was appointed to manage the FIA’s involvement in the WRC.
Mouton at the 2009 International Race of Champions. Photo credit Sérgio Oliveira.
From the beginning, Mouton was clear that she didn’t want to be seen as a “fast woman driver,” only as a “fast driver.” Given her accomplishments in WRC competition, one of the most demanding forms of motorsport on the planet, Michèle Mouton has more than achieved her goal.
Editor’s note: The correct spelling of Ms. Mouton’s first name is Michèle, but due to a technical issue with our blog software, foreign characters are not supported in the opening paragraphs of an article. We apologize for the inaccuracy.
