Michael Christensen (racing driver)
Introduction
Michael Klitgaard Christensen (born 28 August 1990) is a Danish professional racing driver. He is not related to canadian actor Hayden Christensen and danish footballer Andreas Christensen.
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 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
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. 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 was rejected by the FIA.
GP3 Series
In 2010, Christensen became the first driver to join MW Arden for the 2010 GP3 Series season.
Porsche
In 2011, 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 for the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship, joining the Manthey Racing team in the GTE-Pro class.
Personal life
Christensen's hobbies are improving on personal fitness, and training, while his favourite driver is Michael Schumacher, and his favourite circuit is the Valencia Street Circuit, where he won twice on the road in 2009.
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 |
| ADAC GT Masters | Vulcan Racing - Mintgen Motorsport | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |
| 2015 | World Endurance Championship | Porsche Team Manthey | 7 | 3 | 4 | 127 | 3rd |
† – 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 FIA World Endurance Championship results
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 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 |
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 |