Michele Mouton and the rally year 1980
Fiat France kept Michèle Mouton and Jean-Claude Andruet on board for the 1980 season. The Fiat 131 Abarth had now a yellow colour scheme thanks to new sponsor Calberson. Her co-pilot was again Annie Arrii. Francoise Conconi had indicated that she wanted to do something different.
The year traditionally started with the Rally Monte Carlo. This rally, with the status of a world championship rally, was attracting a lot of interest from factory teams this year, such as Fiat, Lancia, Opel, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Porsche, Toyota, Talbot. The degree of representation varied considerably. Fiat had a full factory team with the Fiat 131 Abarth and the Ritmo 75 Abarth, while Ford had a potentially winning factory-spec car driven by Ari Vatanen, but without official factory support.
Just like in previous years, the option was to start again on January 19 from nine different European cities to join Serre-Chevalier. A day later, the 'Parcours de Classement' started with seven chrono stages to Monaco.
This year's Monte Rally was proving to be one of the most difficult in terms of tyre choice. On almost all stages, varying weather conditions due to the rapidly changing weather meant that the information provided to the teams by their exploration vehicles becomes outdated within minutes. In some parts there was a lot of snow and the temperature dropped quickly, so that at the service points for the special stages there were piles of tyres ready for the drivers to choose from. That would again put pressure on the tire supply from Kleber, Michelin and Pirelli. Since most of the participants were French, Michelin had the largest stock. However, they were seriously overloaded due to the difficult road conditions. That would cause problems for the Fiat France team later in the rally.
The Fiat of Alén-Kivimaki and the Lancia Stratos of Darniche were the fastest in the first stages, followed by Andruet and Walter Röhrl, both with Fiat. When Alen broke his suspension, Röhrl took the lead. At the end of the first stage he had a lead of 2.32 minutes over Darniche and 2.40 over the Fiat Ritmo of Attilio Bettega. Michèle was fifth at five minutes. After a break, the 'Parcours Commun' started on January 21 with 15 chrono stages, including the famous climb of the col du Turini, around Monaco.
Walter Röhrl continued to do well. After six stages and a difficult passage through Moulinon due to thick snow, stop in Vals-Les-Bains. The German now had a four-minute lead over Darniche. Michèle had problems with the Fiat's alternator and was seventh at more than seven minutes. On the climb of Burzet and later Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid, Darniche made a mistake in his tyre choice and lost time. Back in Monaco, Röhrl remained first, but after him there was Per Eklund (VW Golf GTi) at 8 minutes, Anders Kullang (Opel Ascona 400) at 10 minutes and Björn Waldegaard (Fiat) at 11 minutes. Mouton was now eighth at more than 21 minutes. After a day of rest, there was the final stage consisting of two rounds at night in which various cols had to be climbed twice. The weather was calmer with only some ice plaques here and there. That would be fatal for Andruet. Darniche performed strong. He came second after Röhrl. Michèle ended seventh and also won the Women's Cup again.
The Fiat was at work two later for the Belgian round of the European championship, the Boucles de Spa (see photo below). The women's team finished fourth. Then Michèle had a big break until the end of May. Only in the Rallye International du Mont-Blanc near Annecy the female-Fiat of Mouton-Arii could compete again against its French male competitors. In the first fast stage of the twelve in total, they started quietly in sixth place. Then they finished fourth three times and on the last stage of the day they finished second, making them third in the rankings. The second stage showed a Michèle in top form. She won two of the five chrono stages and came three times second. The end result was a great second place, just 41 seconds behind winner Jean Ragnotti and his Renault 5 Alpine. After this highlight there was a retirement in the Antibes Rally.
In mid-September the Fiat France team was ready for the four-day Tour de France. It was a great race again. Bernard Darniche's fast Lancia Stratos won the rally again, Beguin with his Porsche was second and Michèle third.
A month later was the Tour de Corse, now a world championship event. On Thursday, October 23th, all drivers started for the first part of the first stage from Ajaccio via Bicchisano and Liamone back to Ajaccio with five chrono sessions. Jean Ragnotti and his Renault turbo were the fastest in the first two stages and got comfortably in the lead of the rally. Michèle could follow the pace and was fourth overall. The little Renault continued to go fast at night. A slow puncture in the last kilometres of the stage put an end to Michèle Mouton's wonderful performance. She was second at the start of the last chrono stage, but dropped back to fifth when they return to Ajaccio. There was however good news for the Fiat France team. Ragnotti was struggling with mechanical problems and so teammate Andruet could snatch first place. After a short break, the second part of the first stage from Ajaccio to Bastia started with five chrono stages again. Jean Ragnotti took the lead again! Michèle was delayed by a broken exhaust and lost two places to Jean-Luc Thérier (Porsche 911) and Guy Fréquelin (Talbot). She moved up due to Andruet's retirement and problems for Fréquelin; back in fourth place in the standings in Bastia. The second stage started at midnight with three chrono stages during night. At a short break in Saint Roch, Michèle Mouton was still fourth, but lost a lot of time due to problems with the shock absorbers. She was now almost fifteen minutes behind the leading Renault and only one minute ahead of Fréquelin. The fourteenth chrono stage started in Saint Roch. Strong gusts of wind had thrown branches and leaves of the chestnut trees onto the road. Ragnotti, the first on the road, was quickly blocked. He and his co-driver have to clear the road and got soon help from Bernard Darniche, who started a minute later. Then Therier and Röhrl also came to help. The four teams finally managed to clear the road again and left immediately. All in all, these drivers had lost four minutes. Darniche did not have the right tyres for the slippery road and was quickly overtaken by Therier and Rohrl. On a narrow stretch of road he did not see Frequelin approaching in his rearview mirror. In a bend the cars collided and ended next to the road. The two pilots accused each other and a complaint of attempted murder was filed at the gendarmerie. When the leading Renault 5 also had to retire with alternator problems, Therier took the lead with his Porsche and Michèle became second at seven minutes.
Unfortunately, many mechanical problems would follow for Michèle. A differential problem caused her to lose a minute and the Fiat came to a standstill due to an electronics problem. She was rescued by Christian Dorche, who pushed the Fiat from behind for many miles to the service point with his Peugeot 505. Another sixteen minute lost. Then there were exhaust problems again. Final result: a fifth place.
Penultimate rally of the season. Both Fiat France cars were at the start of the Rallye des Cévennes. It was also the last sporting activity of the French team. Michèle Mouton wanted to give her employer a farewell gift and immediately took charge of operations. But on the way to the start of the fourth chrono stage she collided with a stone. Rally immediately over.
Then just the Var rally. There were not many rally drivers who could compete against the two Fiat 131s. Michèle Mouton again showed her ambitions from the start, but teammate Andruet took the lead from the second lap. Michèle took second place by winning four specials, making it 1-2 for Fiat France. This placed Jean Claude Andruet second in the rally championship of France and Michele seventh and first woman rally driver !
