“I don't know another sport that can give you so much adrenaline”

In the 42 years since Michèle Mouton last stood on the top step of the podium in the World Rally Championship, no female driver has followed in her gravel tracks.

It’s been done by co-drivers - most recently Isabelle Galmiche at the Monte Carlo Rally in 2022 - but in the hot seat, the wait goes on.

The WRC’s promoter thinks it’s time for that to change. And so earlier this year it launched an initiative to scour the globe for talented women: the finalists were invited to a shakedown at M-Sport’s Krakow base last week, with 15 drivers comprehensively assessed over three days and eventually whittled down to just three.

Make a mental note of Lyssia Baudet, Suvi Jyrkiainen and Claire Schonborn; the trio who’ll compete in the Central European Rally in a Fiesta Rally3 next month. The winner will earn a full season in the FIA Junior WRC in 2025. Beyond that, the sky’s the limit.

The scheme is set to run every year, and - speaking to TG at Rally Finland last month - Mouton, 73, says her “big hope” is that it leads to more doors opening for female drivers.

“It’s fantastic that the promoter could plan this programme and afford this programme to be run for many years,” she says. “Because it's not just a year of promoting women, it's a long-term plan. Which is very important.

“Motorsport today is not easy. It's not easy to afford to have a car, to have training… and when you don't have the numbers [of women], you need to have at least the support for the ones who are there. If not, it's too difficult.”

But she’s adamant there’s more to it than pure optics: along with sailing and horse racing, she reckons motorsport can be one of the few arenas in which men and women can compete against each other on a level playing field. Or if you’re in Finland, an undulating one.

“We don't have to look for equality, but [give] the opportunity to do this sport. Because it's fantastic. I don't think I know another sport that can give you so much adrenaline, you know?

“When you are fighting with the limit of yourself and the limit of the car, on a very fast road like here [Jyvaskyla] or on a twisty road like in Corsica. Or on snow, on ice, on gravel… it's really an incredible adrenaline. I would like to see more women involved in that.”

The WRC isn’t alone in trying to give more female racers a chance: Formula 1 has its F1 Academy and a couple of the teams have their own development programmes; Iron Dames has had great success in endurance; Rob Smedley’s karting initiative is also on the lookout at the grassroots level.

The big question is, does it all go far enough? “I think it's better [to have] some programme than nothing, for sure,” Mouton reflects. “I am not so much pro having [women] fighting against each other in the sport, I would prefer to see them fighting with [men]. But if it's a way to find more girls and to help them to reach the top. Why not?

“But it's not really my favourite formula for that. I think if you fight against a category, you are going to fight with the limit of the best of the category. You have to admit that in my time in our sport, men were the best. And they are still the best today.”

Mouton talks about never being able to accept being slower than her male rivals. If teammate Hannu Mikkola was three seconds faster, it had “to be two seconds, it has to be one second, I have to be on the same level. I had only that in mind. With the same car, I want to be able to do the same thing. This has always been my motivation".

A curious outlook perhaps, given how many top racing drivers over the years have had tunnel vision for winning. But in the context of her surprise call-up to the Audi Sport programme in 1981 - with only national level campaigns and a few one-off WRC drives to her name at the time - you can see where the logic stems from.

And looking back, you can’t argue with what she achieved. In a five-year spell Mouton amassed nine podiums and four wins in her Audi Quattro; three of them in 1982, when she came oh so close to winning the world championship outright. Just 12 points separated her from champion Walter Rohrl.

So near yet so far. And more than four decades later, we’re still waiting for that level of breakthrough result to not only silence the doubters, but perhaps open the floodgates for a new generation of female drivers.

Mouton admits she’s frustrated by that lack of progress, knowing how important role models are. “Like in football or in any sport, you have always somebody you would like to be like," she observes.

“In all the disciplines, I am checking [the results]. I see that [female drivers] are progressing slowly, but I don't see the step higher.” She sighs. “I don't know. Competition at each level is very difficult, but you have always to focus, focus, focus. Not to give up and to say, ‘Okay, now I am at my peak’. Because everyone is trying to go faster all the time.

“I see a lot of promotion around. I see people very happy with their result. And I was not happy with my result until I could win.”