Rouault came to motorsport in the 1930s and was supported by
Odette Siko at the beginning of her career. Siko was a few years older and already an experienced racer. Rouault quickly rose in fame and popularity with her third place finish in the 1933
Monte Carlo Rally. She competed there six more times before the Second World War, regularly in French vehicles including
Renault,
Salmson and
Matford. The event organized the
Automobile Club de Monaco on the fashionable
Côte d’Azur suited her style. The attractive Parisian was always stylishly dressed and was known to complete
rallies wearing long
skirts. On the social side of motorsport events, she spent time in the company of her fellow racing drivers and compatriots, including the dancer and "
Bugatti Queen"
Hellé Nice (1900–1984),
Anne-Cécile Rose-Itier (1890–1980) and
Yvonne Simon (1917–1992). In the years leading up to the war, road racing was very popular in France. These races, which often went from city to city, became her specialty. A frequent partner was
Lucy O'Reilly Schell, the wife of
Laury Schell and mother of
Formula 1 driver
Harry Schell. Driving a
Delahaye, the duo finished the 1935
Paris — Saint-Raphaël rally second overall and won the 1937 Paris–Nice event. She also had success on circuits: she finished seventh in the 1935
Grand Prix de la Marne and in the same position again in a Delahaye 135CS at the 1937
3 Hours of Marseille. Her greatest success in
sports car racing was third place overall in the 1938
12 Hours of Paris at the
Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry with Anne-Cécile Rose-Itier in a Delahaye 135CS Coupé. After the end of the Second World War, she returned to racing at the 1948 12 Hours of Paris and brought her aging Delahaye to the 1949 running of
24 Hours of Spa. In the 1930s she had declared that she would race exclusively with women as teammates. In Spa,
Yvonne Simon filled this role, the team finishing eleventh in the final classification. Other partners included
Gilberte Thirion in the
Rally of Morocco and
Régine Gordine, with whom she drove in the
24 Hours of Le Mans and in the 1952
Tour de France Automobile. She also regularly competed in the Monte Carlo Rally from 1950 in various
Simca and
Renault models. She began racing less frequently in the mid-1950s; her final event was the 1956 Monte Carlo Rally. In 1935, with Jacques Delorme,
Anne-Cécile Itier and
Hellé Nice, she founded the U.S.A. (Union sportive automobile), as association of independent drivers, and served as the organization's secretary general. In 1949, Rouault was reportedly trying to revive the Rallye Feminin, but was struggling to find enough women drivers, noting that several women's driving clubs hadn't reformed following the war. == Results ==