Michael Christensen (racing driver)

Michael Christensen
Michael Christensen
Nationality	Danish
Born	28 August 1990; Karlslunde, Denmark
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season	2015
Current team	Porsche GT Team
Former teams	Porsche Team Manthey, Dempsey-Proton Racing
Starts	41
Wins	8
Poles	5
Fastest laps	2
Best finish	1st in 2018-19
Previous series
2013; 2012; 2011; 2010-11; 2008–09	Porsche Supercup; Porsche Carrera Cup Germany; ADAC GT Masters; GP3 Series; Formula BMW Europe

Michael Klitgaard Christensen (born 28 August 1990) is a Danish racing driver. He is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Porsche in the GTE PRO class.

Career

Karting

Born in Karlslunde, Christensen had a very successful karting career, winning the 2004 Nordic ICA Junior Championship. The following year he gathered both Nordic and European titles in ICA Junior class. For 2006 Christensen graduated to Formula A and he achieved a second place in the Formula A World Championship and was twice champion in the German Kart Championship Winner of the Macau Int. Kart Grand prix Formula A. In 2007 Michael repeated as German Kart Champion and also won the KF1 South Garda Winter Cup.

Formula BMW Europe

Christensen made his open-wheel racing debut in the 2008 Formula BMW Europe season at Barcelona which supported the 2008 Spanish Grand Prix, where he was involved in a potentially serious incident, flipping his car.[1] He finished the season in sixth place and as the top rookie in the rookie standings.

He moved to Mücke Motorsport for the 2009 season. He started the season as the strongest candidate to win the championship, and a victory in the first race of the season was promising. He finished the season in fourth place, although he lost results from five races including three wins, after his team lost an appeal over a breach of technical regulations[2] was rejected by the FIA.[3]

GP3 Series

In 2010, Christensen became the first driver to join MW Arden for the 2010 GP3 Series season.[4]

Porsche

In 2012, Christensen joined the Porsche young driver program. He resulted 7th in the 2012 Porsche Carrera Cup Germany and 6th in the 2013 Porsche Supercup.

He became a factory driver in 2014, racing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship joining Patrick Long in the GTLM class, winning 12 Hours of Sebring and North American Endurance Cup. In 2015 he competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship together with Richard Lietz, joining the Manthey Racing team in the GTE-Pro class. Winning the manufactures championship, and finishing 3rd in the drivers championship. In the 2018-2019 FIA World Endurance Championship he in succeeded winning 24 Hours of Le Mans for Porsche.[5]

Personal life

Christensen's hobbies are improving on personal fitness, and training,[6] while his favourite driver is Michael Schumacher,[6] and his favourite circuit is the Nürburgring.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	FLaps	Podiums	Points	Position
2008	Formula BMW Europe	Räikkönen Robertson Racing	15	0	0	1	1	158	6th
	Formula BMW Pacific	Motaworld Racing	1	0	0	0	1	0	NC†
	Formula BMW World Final	Josef Kaufmann Racing	1	0	0	0	1	0	2nd
2009	Formula BMW Europe	Mücke Motorsport	16	4	5	4	6	233	4th
2010	GP3 Series	MW Arden	16	0	0	0	0	0	31st
2011	GP3 Series	RSC Mücke Motorsport	16	0	0	1	2	19	11th
2011	ADAC GT Masters	Vulcan Racing - Mintgen Motorsport	6	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2012	Porsche Carrera Cup Germany	Konrad Motorsport	16	1	0	1	2	148	7th
2012	Porsche Supercup	Konrad Motorsport	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC†
2013	Porsche Supercup	DAMS	9	1	1	1	3	95	6th
	ADAC GT Masters	Tonino powered by Herberth Motorsport	2	0	0	0	0	20	23rd
	ADAC GT Masters	Team Geyer & Weinig EDV-Unternehmensberatung Schütz Motorsport	2	0	0	0	0	20	23rd
	American Le Mans Series - GT	CORE Autosport	1	0	0	0	0	7	29th
	Rolex Sports Car Series - GT	Konrad Motorsport/Orbit	1	0	0	0	0	16	62nd
	Porsche Carrera Cup Germany	Team 75 Motorsport GmbH	2	0	0	0	1	0	NC†
2014	United SportsCar Championship - GTLM	Porsche North America	10	1	1	0	4	303	6th
2015	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro	Porsche Team Manthey	7	3	0	1	4	127	3rd
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro	Porsche Team Manthey	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	5th
	United SportsCar Championship - GTLM	Porsche North America	2	0	0	0	1	56	17th
2016	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro	Dempsey-Proton Racing	9	0	0	0	0	74	8th
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro	Dempsey-Proton Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	8th
	WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - GTLM	Porsche North America	3	0	0	0	2	89	13th
2017	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro	Porsche GT Team	9	0	1	0	3	67	11th
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro	Porsche GT Team	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
	WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - GTD	Alegra Motorsports	5	1	0	0	2	131	23rd
	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup	KÜS TEAM75 Bernhard	1	0	0	0	0	12	22nd
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Porsche	1	0	0	0	0	12	10th
2018	Pirelli World Challenge	Alegra Motorsports	19	2	1	1	9	364	3rd
	SprintX GT Championship Series	Alegra Motorsports	10	1	1	0	6	198	2nd
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro	Porsche GT Team	1	1	0	0	1	N/A	1st
2018–19	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro	Porsche GT Team	8	2	1	1	6	155	1st
2019	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup	GPX Racing	1	1	0	0	1	25	10th
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Porsche	2	1	0	0	2	40	11th
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro	Porsche GT Team	1	1	0	0	0	N/A	9th
2019-20	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro	Porsche GT Team	8	2	3	0	6	148	3rd
2020	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	KCMG	1	0	0	0	0	2	33rd
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro	Porsche GT Team	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	6th
	Intercontinental GT Challenge	Porsche	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC

† – As Christensen was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete GP3 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	DC	Points
2010	MW Arden	CAT FEA Ret	CAT SPR 16	IST FEA 13	IST SPR 11	VAL FEA Ret	VAL SPR 14	SIL FEA Ret	SIL SPR 15	HOC FEA Ret	HOC SPR 10	HUN FEA 10	HUN SPR Ret	SPA FEA 10	SPA SPR 23	MNZ FEA 15	MNZ SPR 10	31st	0
2011	RSC Mücke Motorsport	IST FEA 7	IST SPR 2	CAT FEA 18	CAT SPR 12	VAL FEA Ret	VAL SPR Ret	SIL FEA Ret	SIL SPR 13	NÜR FEA 26†	NÜR SPR 12	HUN FEA 2	HUN SPR 13	SPA FEA 15	SPA SPR 4	MNZ FEA 12	MNZ SPR 11	11th	19

Complete Porsche Supercup results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Points
2012	Konrad Motorsport	BHR	BHR	MON 20	VAL	SIL	HOC 8	HUN	HUN	SPA	MNZ	NC†	0†
2013	DAMS	CAT 5	MON 25	SIL 3	NÜR 1	HUN 10	SPA 3	MNZ 8	YMC 10	YMC 7		6th	95

^† As Christensen was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2014	Porsche North America	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	DAY 9	SEB 1	LBH 5	LGA 8	WGL 8	MOS 9	IMS 3	ELK 5	VIR 8	COA 3	PET 2		6th	303
2015	Porsche North America	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	DAY 7	SEB	LBH	LGA 3	WGL	MOS	ELK	VIR	COA	PET			17th	56
2016	Porsche North America	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	DAY 3	SEB 3	LBH	LGA	WGL	MOS	LIM	ELK	VIR	COA	PET 5		13th	89
2017	Alegra Motorsports	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	DAY 1	SEB 10	LBH 12	COA	DET	WGL 7	MOS	LIM	ELK	VIR	LGA	PET 2	23rd	131

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Rank	Points
2015	Porsche Team Manthey	LMGTE Pro	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	SIL 2	SPA	LMS 7	NÜR 1	COA 1	FUJ 4	SHA 1	BHR 5		3rd	127
2016	Dempsey-Proton Racing	LMGTE Pro	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	SIL 9	SPA 4	LMS 6	NÜR 6	MEX 6	COA 6	FUJ 7	SHA 6	BHR 7	8th	74
2017	Porsche GT Team	LMGTE Pro	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	SIL Ret	SPA 6	LMS Ret	NÜR 3	MEX 5	COA 2	FUJ 3	SHA Ret	BHR Ret	11th	67
2018–19	Porsche GT Team	LMGTE Pro	Porsche 911 RSR	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	SPA 2	LMS 1	SIL 3	FUJ 1	SHA 3	SEB 5	SPA 3	LMS 5		1st	155
2019–20	Porsche GT Team	LMGTE Pro	Porsche 911 RSR-19	Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6	SIL 2	FUJ 2	SHA 2	BHR 7	COA 2	SPA 1	LMS 11	BHR 1		3rd	148

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2015	Porsche Team Manthey	Richard Lietz Jörg Bergmeister	Porsche 911 RSR	GTE Pro	327	30th	5th
2016	Dempsey-Proton Racing	Philipp Eng Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR	GTE Pro	329	31st	8th
2017	Porsche GT Team	Kévin Estre Dirk Werner	Porsche 911 RSR	GTE Pro	179	DNF	DNF
2018	Porsche GT Team	Kévin Estre Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 911 RSR	GTE Pro	344	15th	1st
2019	Porsche GT Team	Kévin Estre Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 911 RSR	GTE Pro	337	29th	9th
2020	Porsche GT Team	Kévin Estre Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 911 RSR-19	GTE Pro	331	35th	6th

References

Video from the accident
"Mücke Motorsport suspended from Formula BMW Europe races". bmw-motorsport.com. Formula BMW. 2009-08-20. Archived from the original on 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
"FIA International Court of Appeal ruling confirms judicial decisions". bmw-motorsport.com. Formula BMW. 2009-11-17. Archived from the original on 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2009-11-17.
Beer, Matt (2010-01-08). "MW Arden signs first GP3 driver". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
Dagys, John (2013-11-27). "Michael Christensen Named Porsche Factory Driver". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 2013-12-14.
"Formula BMW Europe. 2009 Championship Guide" (PDF). bmw-motorsport.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-09-20. Retrieved 2009-10-11.

External links

Official website
Michael Christensen career summary at DriverDB.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi	World Endurance GT Drivers' Championship Champion 2018-19 With: Kevin Estre	Succeeded by Marco Sørensen Nicki Thiim

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Video from the accident

[2] "Mücke Motorsport suspended from Formula BMW Europe races". bmw-motorsport.com. Formula BMW. 2009-08-20. Archived from the original on 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2009-09-02.

[3] "FIA International Court of Appeal ruling confirms judicial decisions". bmw-motorsport.com. Formula BMW. 2009-11-17. Archived from the original on 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2009-11-17.

[4] Beer, Matt (2010-01-08). "MW Arden signs first GP3 driver". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-01-08.

[5] Dagys, John (2013-11-27). "Michael Christensen Named Porsche Factory Driver". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 2013-12-14.

[personallife-6] "Formula BMW Europe. 2009 Championship Guide" (PDF). bmw-motorsport.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-09-20. Retrieved 2009-10-11.

FIA World Endurance Championship champions
World Endurance Drivers' Championship	2012 André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Marcel Fässler 2013 Allan McNish Tom Kristensen Loïc Duval 2014 Anthony Davidson Sébastien Buemi 2015 Timo Bernhard Mark Webber Brendon Hartley 2016 Marc Lieb Romain Dumas Neel Jani 2017 Timo Bernhard Brendon Hartley Earl Bamber 2018–19 Sébastien Buemi Fernando Alonso Kazuki Nakajima
World Endurance GT Drivers' Championship	2013 Gianmaria Bruni 2014 Gianmaria Bruni Toni Vilander 2015 Richard Lietz 2016 Nicki Thiim Marco Sørensen 2017 James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi 2018–19 Michael Christensen Kévin Estre
List of champions