Michèle Espinosi-Petit

Michèle Espinosi-Petit, known in competition as “Biche”, was a French co-driver particularly associated with Jean-Claude Andruet during the 1970s and 1980s. The pair won the French rally title in 1972 and also won the Tour de France Automobile that year.

Her greatest international milestone came on the 1973 Monte Carlo Rally, the first event in the history of the World Rally Championship, where Andruet and Biche won in an Alpine A110. With that result she became the first female co-driver to win a WRC event. In 1974 they achieved a second World Championship victory on the Tour de Corse, this time in a Lancia Stratos. Biche again won the Tour de France Automobile alongside Andruet in 1982, forming one of the most recognisable French rally partnerships of their era.