Page "Michèle Mouton" Paragraph 14

Mouton's 1982 season started with a big accident at the Monte Carlo Rally.

On stage twelve in the small town Briançonnet in Provence, she missed a patch of ice and slid off the road, crashing into the stone wall of a large house at 110 km / h ( 70 mph ).

Mouton injured her knee while Pons suffered a concussion.

She had been in third place, and had set the fastest time for the difficult Col de Turini mountain pass.

The pair's injuries were not serious and Mouton went on to make her debut in the Swedish Rally.

She was running third when she slid into a snow bank, and crashed into the Quattro of teammate Hannu Mikkola who had gone off at the same place.

She eventually finished fifth.

In Portugal, Mouton recorded 18 stage wins on her way to a clear victory ahead of Toyota's Per Eklund.

She once admitted that to be competitive in the rally, she tried to think of the large crowds right by the side of the route as trees.

At the Tour de Corse, she could not match the pace of the leaders and finished seventh.

At the Acropolis Rally, Mouton won ahead of the Opel duo Walter Röhrl and Henri Toivonen, and closed to within 20 points of the championship leader Röhrl.

The event was overshadowed by two serious accidents, one of which killed a spectator.

Mouton had commented: " I'm afraid that something might break in my car and I can no longer avoid hitting a spectator.