Method for starting an internal combustion engine, in particular on a motor vehicle

A method for starting an internal combustion engine including an engine of a motor vehicle, the engine having a piston movable in a cylinder and acting on a crankshaft to rotate the crankshaft in a forward direction of movement, the piston running through an intake phase, a compression phase, a work phase and an exhaust phase, the engine further including a system for injecting fuel directly into a combustion chamber delimited by the cylinder and the piston in one of a first operating mode during a compression phase and a second operating mode during an intake phase and, thereafter, igniting the fuel, the method comprising the step of:

• at standstill of the crankshaft, injecting and igniting fuel in that cylinder (no. 1) whose piston is disposed in the compression phase so that the crankshaft is rotated in a rearward direction of movement opposite to said forward direction.