Michael Christensen (racing driver)

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Christensen at the 2013 race weekend in Belgium

Michael Klitgaard Christensen (born August 28, 1990 in Karlslunde , Denmark ) is a Danish racing driver . He has been a Porsche works driver since 2014.

Career

Christensen started his motorsport career in 2003 in kart racing and achieved some successes in this category. In 2004 he won the Nordic ICA Junior Kart Championship and a year later the championship titles of the Danish and European ICA Junior Kart Championship followed. In 2006 he was runner-up in the Formula A class and in 2006 and 2007 he won the German kart championship.

In 2008 Christensen switched to formula racing and competed for Räikkönen Robertson Racing in the European Formula BMW . With a second place he ended his first season in sixth place overall and was also the best newcomer of the season. In 2009 Christensen stayed in this series and switched to Mücke Motorsport . The season was overshadowed by a scandal in which his racing team Mücke Motorsport was involved. After he had won the second race on the Hungaroring , illegal oil pressure valve springs were discovered during the technical inspection after the race and Mücke Motorsport was disqualified from the race and banned from the next four races. Since Mücke Motorsport appealed, the drivers were allowed to start with reservations and Christensen crossed the finish line first in another race. After the end of the season, the penalties against Mücke Motorsport were confirmed and Christensen finished fourth in the championship with four wins.

In 2010 Christensen joined MW Arden in the newly founded GP3 series . At the end of the season he finished 31st overall. In 2011 Christensen returned to Mücke Motorsport and completed his second GP3 season for the racing team. While his team-mate Nigel Melker finished third in the championship with a win, Christensen finished the season with two second places as the best results in eleventh place in the overall standings. In addition, he gained his first experience in GT racing in the ADAC GT Masters and took part in three events .

In 2012 Christensen left formula racing completely. He was accepted into Porsche 's sponsorship program and competed for Konrad Motorsport in the German Porsche Carrera Cup . In the last race of the season, he scored his first victory starting from pole position. Christensen finished the season in seventh place, losing to his team-mate Norbert Siedler , who was fifth. He also made two guest starts in the Porsche Supercup . In 2013 Christensen stayed in the Porsche support program and competed in the Porsche Supercup for the DAMS team. He won the fourth race of the season at the Nürburgring and was sixth in the championship at the end of the season.

For the 2014 season, Christensen was promoted from Porsche Junior to works driver. He competed for Team Porsche North America in the United SportsCar Championship and clinched his first class win in the second round of the season, the Sebring 12-hour race . At the end of the season he and his teammate Patrick Long finished sixth in the championship. In the special classification for endurance races, the North American Endurance Cup , he was able to win the title together with Long.

statistics

Career stations

  • 2003-2007: karting
  • 2008: European Formula BMW (6th place)
  • 2009: European Formula BMW (4th place)

Le Mans results

year team vehicle Teammate Teammate placement Failure reason
2015 GermanyGermany Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 911 RSR AustriaAustria Richard Lietz GermanyGermany Jörg Bergmeister Rank 30
2016 GermanyGermany Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR AustriaAustria Richard Lietz AustriaAustria Philipp Eng Rank 31st
2017 GermanyGermany Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR FranceFrance Kévin Estre GermanyGermany Dirk Werner failure accident
2018 GermanyGermany Porsche GT Team Porsche 991 RSR GTE FranceFrance Kévin Estre BelgiumBelgium Laurens Vanthoor 15th place and class win
2019 GermanyGermany Porsche GT Team Porsche 991 RSR GTE FranceFrance Kévin Estre BelgiumBelgium Laurens Vanthoor Rank 29

Sebring results

year team vehicle Teammate Teammate Teammate placement Failure reason
2014 United StatesUnited States Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR United StatesUnited States Patrick Long GermanyGermany Jörg Bergmeister Rank 12 and class win
2016 United StatesUnited States Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR New ZealandNew Zealand Earl Bamber FranceFrance Frédéric Makowiecki Rank 12
2017 United StatesUnited States Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R. United StatesUnited States Carlos de Quesada United StatesUnited States Spencer Pumpelly CanadaCanada Daniel Morad Rank 25

Web links

Commons : Michael Christensen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Perfect weekend for Christensen" (Motorsport-Total.com on July 26, 2009)
  2. ^ "Rule violation: Mücke blocked for four races" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 20, 2010)
  3. ↑ "Jim Pla celebrates second victory for DAMS in Valencia" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 23, 2009)
  4. ↑ "FIA confirms fines against Mücke" (Motorsport-Total.com on November 17, 2009)
  5. ↑ "GP3: Arden signs Christensen" (Motorsport-Total.com on January 8, 2010)
  6. ↑ "GP3 - Michael Christensen drives for Mücke again" (Motorsport-Magazin.com on April 21, 2011)
  7. ^ "Bachler & Christensen new Porsche Juniors" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 9, 2012)
  8. ^ " First victory for Porsche Junior Christensen". Motorsport-Total.com, October 21, 2012, accessed December 22, 2012 .
  9. ↑ "Porsche continues to place great emphasis on promoting young talent". Motorsport-Total.com, November 23, 2012, accessed December 22, 2012 .
  10. ↑ motorsport-total.com
personal data
SURNAME Christensen, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Christensen, Michael K.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish racing driver
DATE OF BIRTH August 28, 1990
PLACE OF BIRTH Karlslunde , Denmark