Rally in 1976 with an Alpine A110 and A310
It starts again in January 1976. The team Michèle Mouton-Francoise Conconi- Alpine Renault A110, under the wings of Renault-Nice, started on January 17th the Rally de Monte Carlo, also the first round of the world championship. Michèle was now a semi-professional with plenty of sponsorship money from petroleum giant Elf. That day, 148 cars left for Monaco from seven cities in Europe; Paris and Rome were the most popular. Michèle left the French capital with 65 other cars. The road to Monaco was difficult due to dense fog, but the Alpine reached Monaco without a time penalty.
The 176 kilometres of special stages started on Monday via San Remo, with two chrono stages. Dry weather. While Sandro Munari-Silvio Maiga made it clear with the Lancia Stratos that they wanted to win, Michèle did it calmly and controlled. The intention was not to directly sustain damage or end up off the track. It was immediately clear to her that Guy Fréquelin, in a Porsche, dominated group 3. Jean-Claude Andruet showed strong performances in his Alpine A310. He only gave 1 minute in on the Stratos. The 'stage commune' started early in the morning on Tuesday, 1800 kilometres with twelve timed sections. The cars would be back in Monaco late Wednesday night. Fortunately the weather remained nice. It started right away with a first ascent of the col du Turini. Once again it were the Lancias of Munari and Bjorn Waldegaard that set the tone at the front. In the second chrono stage of Entrevaux the Alpine team lost a car. Jean Luc Therier had to swerve too much when passing Verini and hit a stone. At the end of the journey the car appeared to have too much damage. The weather remained dry for the next two stages, but again bad luck for Alpine in the stage of the Col de Manse. Andruet spun and the Alpine got stuck next to the road. Because it took more than five minutes before help to arrive, he dropped to fourteenth place in the rankings. On the next connecting road section he crashed into a tree due to a slide on an ice patch. He had to stop the rally because some ribs were broken! It started to snow in Saint-Jean-en-Royans. The top drivers didn’t have time to fit snow tires, but Frequelin and his Porsche did. That got him in the lead of the rally for a while. But after the stages in Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid and Le Burzet, three Lancia Stratos came again in the lead. Double bad luck for Alpine. Vincent, ninth in the rankings at the time, crashed his car and immediately pushed his teammate Jacques Henry off the road. Two retirements at once.
After a short rest period in Vals-les-Bains, there were four more special stages. At the end of this stage, three Lancia Stratos were in the lead of the rally; Munari for Waldegaard and Darniche. Michèle Mouton finished this stage outside the top ten, but she was already second in group 3.
The final stage started on Thursday evening. There was no more tension because how could Lancia lose this rally. But everything is possible. In 1972, when the leading Alpines crashed in the last stages, Munari was still able to take the victory in his Lancia Fulvia. The remaining participants had to drive up three mountains three times in a row. It started with the Col de Banquettes, also known as Madonna del Gorbio. Munari's Stratos was the fastest. Then the first ascent of the famous col du Turini, where it was freezing. The Lancia team took it easy and Jean-Pierre Nicolas with his Alpine was the fastest. He did that again on the col de Couillole. And then again. Then Bjorn Waldegaard and his Lancia showed his skills. Lancia team boss, Cesare Fiorio had to let Munari know that he was not yet the winner. The Italian did what he had to do: be the fastest. On the third passage over the mountain and with a little more familiarity with the terrain after the two passages, Michèle decided to speed up a bit. That resulted in a ninth place at the Banquettes and a tenth place at the Turini. The difference between the top and the private driver can be seen in the times. Stage winner Waldegaard took 18.22 minutes to complete the climb and Michele 20.23, so more than two minutes slower.
When the blue Alpine with starting number 19 returned to Monaco, a big smiling Michèle Mouton was behind the wheel. Eleventh place overall, second place in group 3 and the winner of the women's cup!
Time now to catch a breath. Michèle was not in action again until May during the Alpin criterium, a rally for the European championship. She had now exchanged the Alpine A110 for the more powerful Alpine A310 1800, suitable for the top class group 4. It was the car that Therier used in the Monte Carlo and it was prepared by Jacques Henry, French rally champion in 1975. Her navigator was the not yet very experienced Denise Emmanuelli. Things went well again in this rally. She finished second, just 1.06 minutes behind winner Jean-Louis Clarr and his Opel Kadett GT.
A week later she took part in the Rallye de Mont-Blanc, a two-day asphalt rally for the French championship. After minor mistakes, the ladies reached fourth place, five minutes behind winner Bruno Saby with the Alpine A110. She was at the start of the Ronde du Vercors in mid-June. Seventh place. A week later there was the Rallye Bayonne - Côte Basque ; this event was organized for the last time. Throughout the rally, Michèle was in a battle with the Porsche of Jean-Francois Mas, who won last year. Only in the last fast stages, she had to let Mas go and settle for second place. At the end of June, the women's Alpine team had less luck during the sun-drenched Rally d'Antibes. After an accident, the car could no longer continue.
After the summer break, the Ronde Cevenole. There were some big names among the 84 participants. With the support of Eminence, Janin and Tarte Tropézienne, Jean-Claude Andruet had rented a Porsche 911 Alméras. With 350 bhp under the hood, he was the fastest and managed to win this event for the fourth time. Michèle finished fourth overall and second in group 4 with a difference of more than three minutes from her Alpine teammate Francis Vincent. She was immediately back in the rhythm of the competition, because she was ready to participate in two rallies for the world championship. It started in October with the Rally San Remo, a three-day rally. This time, “Biche” sat in the chair next to her. Her real name is Michele Petit. Since 1968, when she was only 19 years old, she became Andruet's regular navigator. They became extremely famous after their victory in the 1973 Rally Monte Carlo, where they were more than thirty seconds faster than all other cars on the Col du Turini. Because Andruet did not have a car available, she took the seat next to Michele. Just like in the Monte Carlo, it was all about the Lancia team. After showing they were very evenly matched in the early stages in their identical Lancia Stratos, Sandro Munari and Bjorn Waldegard were told by their team manager to slow down. He was afraid of too many difficulties. If they both got into trouble, Maurizio Verini's Fiat 131 Abarth could easily take the win and Pinto's third Stratos was already behind with brakes issues. But both team mates did not understand that. It became a great game of leapfrog, first with Munari gaining some time and then Waldegard again. Taking it easy was against their rallying nature. When the Fiat Abarth crashed, the difference at the front between the two men was still only a few seconds. And don't forget Munari was an Italian in San Remo. So the team manager Fiori got into trouble! Should he let Waldegaard restrain himself? The opportunity came on the very last special stage. Waldegaard had a four second lead. It is a stage of twenty kilometres on narrow, winding, asphalted roads, ascending and descending in the mountains. Waldegaard was instructed to delay his start by four seconds when the official counting down was at zero. This was the only thing the team could do as neatly as possible to wipe away any advantage. Both pilot navigators would later state that they had never seen such intense concentration among their pilots. It was Waldegaard who was the fastest. And Michèle ? A retirement in the first stage with a pierced radiator.
Michèle expected a lot from her favourite Tour de Corse in early November. She was again teamed with Francoise Conconi. The rally was run in two days with five timed stages in the first stage on November 6, including a long special of 145 km between Calvi and Liamone and another 166 km long special Porto - Vecchio - Prunelli and on November 7 another 4 stages against the time. And again the mechanical problems put the Alpine aside quite early in the rally with a broken differential. Sandro Munari took the win and became world rally champion in 1976.
In the final results of the French rally championship, Michèle Mouton was eighth in the overall standings, second in group 3 and second in the women's rally drivers behind Christine Dagremont.
Rally in 1977 with Autobianchi, Porsche 911 and ... Fiat Abarth
Michèle Mouton was now becoming better known in the press and after three years in the Alpine she was a fierce opponent for her competitors, especially in rallies with a lot of asphalt and little gravel. For 1977 she had sufficient sponsorship money from Elf for an entire season. Target was tthe European Rally Championship. But last year's Alpine A310 was not the most reliable car. So, time to change.
As usual, the year started with the Monte Carlo Rally World Championship. Michèle drove an Autobianchi A112 Abarth. André Chardonnet had entered four A112 Abarth group 2 in this rally for Michèle, Jean-Pierre Malcher, Claude Laurent and Pierre Pagani. The small 1050 cc engine developed 85 hp in the version with its single double-barrel carburettor. Francoise Conconi was once again her navigator. The rally started on Saturday, January 22th and, like previous years, drivers started from different cities on Sunday, arriving in Gap after approximately 2,500 kilometres. Michèle started again in Paris together with 58 other participants from a total of 198 cars. The first stage from Gap to Monaco started on Monday with two chrono sections; the third was cancelled due to too much snow. Right from the first round there was a surprise. Amateur driver Alain Beauchef accelerated on the icy surface with his old Ford Escort group 2 and won with a 5 second lead over old man Guy Frequelin and the Alpine A310 and was equal in the lead! Short-lived, because then the fast Lancia Stratos of Rafaelle Pinto took the lead. After a night's rest, the rally would set off again from Monaco on Tuesday for the 'stage commun' with the climb of the Col de Turini. The trail was completely snow-covered. The rest of the day the roads alternated between snow and ice. The favourites were constantly playing with dry weather tires, profile tires and studded tires. This meant that the ranking at the front changes a lot during the various fast stages. Michèle Mouton had a less powerful car. Sometimes it went fast enough, but in the snow she lacked the necessary horsepower and lost too much time. At the end of the afternoon there was a break in Gap. Seven more timed stages had to be done in the evening and night and four more on Wednesday. Once again, Lancia and Fiat team boss Cesare Fiori had to intervene to urge his drivers, Marku Alen, Jean Claude Andruet (Fiat) and Sandro Munari (Lancia), to calm down. By doing this, on the return to Monaco, they managed to keep a safe margin of three minutes between each other with the Lancia Stratos in the lead. In Monaco, 119 teams croseds the finish line, but only the first 60 were qualified for the final stage. This started on Thursday evening. Four chrono stages had to be run twice, with the same course being completed twice, including the col de La Madone, La Bollene and Roquesteron. Sandro Munari, thanks to the instructions earlier in the rally, already had the fourth victory in his pocket. So not too many risks were taken at the front. Andruet was satisfied with second place. The very last special was truly spectacular. To everyone's surprise, it was the Frenchman Jean Ragnotti who set the best time at the wheel of his modest production Volkswagen Golf, after taking all the risks in the descent of the Madone. He was forty-sixth at the end of the common courses, gaining twenty-eight places in this final stage. And Michèle Mouton? She finished twenty-fourth, 55 minutes behind the winner and finished fifth in class 2. That was all there was to it with this car.
Things changed from the next rally onwards. With the sponsorship money, she rented a Porsche 911 Carrera2.7 from the French Porsche specialists Almeras. The white Porsche with starting number 22 came in action for the first time at the Criterium Alpin early May. Racing on asphalt roads was her thing, but two days of learning how to handle the Porsche on asphalt was another thing. Still, things went well and a fourth place was nice for a first introduction. Michèle took the Porsche to the famous Ronde Cevenole where she ended on the second podium spot, just behind (thirteen seconds) the slightly more powerful Porsche 911 3.0 of Jacques Almeras. At the end of June, the Rallye d'Antibes. In this rally Michèle was supreme in class 3 and remained ahead of her male colleagues in similar Porsches. In the final standings she was again second behind winner Andruet and his Fiat Abarth. The next rally was the Tour De France Automobiles. The rally was held from September 15 to 23 with 27 special stages after a prologue around Nice. Michèle liked it and started quietly at the first test, sixth place. After three chrono stages and back in Nice at the end of the prologue, the Porsche was already in third place. In the stage between Nevers- Bourg-en-Bresse, in the 23rd stage, she could do even better and she became second, but Bernard Darniche's Lancia Stratos remained inaccessible. Michèle Mouton was the winner of class 3.
The Rally of Spain, a mixed rally with asphalt and gravel, was scheduled for a month later. Mouton again started calm and controlled, but remained in the leading group. The real work started on the second stage. The poor condition of the gravel sections, made worse by the persistent, made it extremely tough. It had become an absolutely impassable terrain, turned into a veritable swamp. It was no longer so much about the skill of the drivers, but about how strong their car was. Sandro Munari was in the lead with four minutes ahead of Beny Fernández (Ford escort 1800 RS), Mouton, Cañellas (Seat 124D Especial 1800) and Carlos Trabado (Seat 1430). Fernandez attacked and won in two stages, but then the Escort's suspension collapsed. Now without any obvious opposition, Munari appeared to be a comfortable winner with almost eleven minutes advantage over Mouton. But then, in the next special stage, there was a problem with the electrical power in the Lancia Stratos and a fire broke out in the engine. Repair was impossible, so retire. With Munari out of the race, Michèle was P 01 with a six-minute lead over Cañellas, the only car from the official Seat team still in the race. And, despite the fact that it was the first time that the French lady raced on gravel and the Spaniard continued to push, she crossed the line as the winner with a five-minute lead. For the first time, Mouton and Conconi won a European rally together. Overall, they finish second in European Rally championship after Bernard Darniche (Lancia Stratos). Nice way to end this rally-year !
But, there was an early Christmas present! Due to the performance in Spain, Michèle received a call from Fiat France. If she was interested in drive with a Fiat Abarth 131 for the Corsica Rally and a professional contract for the following year. She said. “I did three full seasons with the Alpine and considered myself semi-professional in 1977, because Elf paid for the whole season, but I was always lucky in all those years that there were several sponsorship proposals. And then Fiat contacted me, offering a 131 Abarth for the 1978 French Championship. That's why today, when someone asks me why there are so few women in motorsport, I always use the example of my own career : I got a good chance, and that's the most important thing. But I would have had to quit at the end of 1977 if Fiat had not approached me, without a doubt. From then on I would have the same car and support as the very best male drivers in France and it was up to me to prove my ability.”
On November 5, she started in Ajaccio alongside teammates Jean Claude Andruet and Francis Vincent for the first stage of the Corsica Rally. After four chrono stages they went into the night for the last three stages. Immediately after the start of the fourth stage, Andruet had to pull over due to an electrical problem. At the end of the stage, Michèle was in ninth place, 11 minutes behind leader Darniche, also at the wheel of an official factory Fiat Abarth in the yellow and black colors of 'Oliofiat'. The second round started on Sunday morning. Michèle had to get used to the heavy car and lost more time. She ended the rally in eighth place, 37 minutes behind winner Darniche and 20 minutes behind her teammate Vincent. More to follow in 1978.
More to read. Chapter 1: the beginnings in 1973 and 1974. Read here
Chapter 2: rally and Le Mans in 1975. Read here
