Two Legends Meet in Marmaris

Audi's legendary four-wheel-drive system quattro celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. While Audi marks "40 Years of quattro" with a variety of events around the world, it has not forgotten the legends who helped make quattro a legend.

Michèle Mouton, the first and only woman to win a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC), is one of them. Travelling to Marmaris for Rally Turkey, the fifth round of the 2020 FIA World Rally Championship, held under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye and organised by the Turkish Automobile Sports Federation (TOSFED), Michèle Mouton was met with a big surprise.

The legendary driver was reunited with a replica of the Audi quattro she drove on the 1981 Sanremo Rally, the victory that wrote her name into motorsport history in letters of gold.

Michèle Mouton: "40 years have passed and I haven't forgotten the quattro…"

Mouton said that seeing the Audi quattro took her on a journey back in time, adding that she has never forgotten it in the 40 years since and that the Audi brand has always been by her side. Saying that she competed in the WRC as an Audi driver between 1981 and 1985, Michèle Mouton noted that they achieved many successful results during that time, including the Portugal, Greece and Brazil rallies, and said: "But of course the most unforgettable was the first win, which I took in the year I joined the Audi team, the Sanremo Rally. It was absolutely impressive to see what was possible in the Audi quattro. That win made me part of the family, and it was also extremely important because we proved that women can reach the top in this sport too."

We will see more women in motorsport

Michèle Mouton, who has chaired the FIA's Women in Motorsport Commission (WIMC) since it was established in 2009, said they are working to bring many more women into the sport. Michèle Mouton explained that the commission was founded to promote the place of women in motorsport, to encourage greater female participation in the sport, and to show that motorsport is open to women in every aspect. Mouton said: "In motorsport, which already features many successful women, we aim to invest in and encourage the future so that more women take part in every area of the sport, from driving to organisation, from technical services to management."