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.