Michèle Mouton, Date of Birth, Place of Birth
TweetMichèle Mouton
rally driver, most successful female driver in the World Rally Championship
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Grasse, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
About Michèle Mouton
- Michèle 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.
- She is still the last woman to compete in top-level rallying. 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 supercars.
- 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 & Motor Sport Commission in 2010 and the FIA's manager in the World Rally Championship in 2011.
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