Which female driver won a WRC round?

Michèle Mouton was the first woman to win a World Rally Championship round. She made history at the 1981 Rallye Sanremo in an Audi Quattro, sharing the victory with co-driver Fabrizia Pons.

Mouton went on to win four WRC events in total. Her other victories came at the 1982 Rally de Portugal, Acropolis Rally and Rally Brazil, all during the dramatic Group B era. That season she finished runner-up in the drivers’ championship to Walter Röhrl, narrowly missing the title.

The Audi Quattro’s four-wheel-drive system was a major technical advantage on loose surfaces, helping transform rally-car design. Mouton’s achievement is sometimes confused with victories by other prominent women in motorsport: Jutta Kleinschmidt won the Dakar Rally, but not a WRC round, while Mouton’s wins were in the FIA World Rally Championship itself.

After retiring from top-level competition, Mouton remained influential as an FIA official and a leader in women’s motorsport.