Michael Christensen (racing driver)

Michael Christensen
Christensen at the 2024 6 Hours of Fuji
Nationality	Danish
Born	(1990-08-28) 28 August 1990 (age 34) Karlslunde, Denmark
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season	2015
Current team	Porsche Penske Motorsport
Racing licence	FIA Platinum
Former teams	Porsche Team Manthey, Dempsey-Proton Racing, Porsche GT Team
Starts	67
Wins	9
Poles	11
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 Hypercar class in the #5 Porsche 963.

Early 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]

Sportscar career

Porsche

Christensen driving at the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Porsche 992 RSR

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]

Hypercar career

For the 2023 World Endurance Championship season, Christensen was named in the lineup for Porsche Penske Motorsport, partnering Dane Cameron and Frédéric Makowiecki. ^[6] For the 2024 WEC season, Christensen would again drive the Porsche 963 for Penske, alongside Makowiecki and Matt Campbell. ^[7]

Personal life

Christensen's hobbies are improving on personal fitness, and training, ^[8] while his favourite driver is Michael Schumacher, ^[8] 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
	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
	Porsche Supercup		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
		Team Geyer & Weinig EDV-Unternehmensberatung Schütz Motorsport	2	0	0	0	0
	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†
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Pinta Team Manthey	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	?
2014	IMSA 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		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	5th
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTLM	Porsche North America	2	0	0	0	1	56	17th
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP-Pro	Wochenspiegel Team Manthey	1	0	?	?	0	N/A	DNF
2016	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro	Dempsey-Proton Racing	9	0	0	0	0	74	8th
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	8th
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTLM	Porsche North America	3	0	0	0	2	89	13th
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Manthey Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
2017	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro	Porsche GT Team	9	0	1	0	3	67	11th
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
	IMSA 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		1	0	0	0	0	12	10th
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Frikadelli Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	6th
2018	Pirelli World Challenge	Alegra Motorsports	19	2	1	1	9	364	3rd
	SprintX GT Championship Series		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
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	KÜS Team75 Bernhard	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	19th
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		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
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Manthey Racing	1	0	0	0	1	N/A	DSQ
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
	Intercontinental GT Challenge		1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro	Porsche GT Team	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	6th
2021	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro	Porsche GT Team	3	0	2	0	3	88	5th
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro		1	0	0	0	1	N/A	3rd
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTLM	WeatherTech Racing	1	0	0	0	1	348	11th
	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	Schnabl Engineering	1	0	0	0	0	4	27th
	Intercontinental GT Challenge		1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Manthey Racing	1	1	0	0	1	N/A	1st
2022	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro	Porsche GT Team	6	1	2	0	4	132	2nd
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro		1	0	0	1	0	N/A	4th
	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	GPX Martini Racing	1	0	0	0	0	6	29th
	Intercontinental GT Challenge		1	0	0	0	0	*	*
	24 Hours of Nürburgring -SP9	Manthey Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
2023	FIA World Endurance Championship - Hypercar	Porsche Penske Motorsport	7	0	0	0	0	61	7th
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTP		2	0	0	0	0	556	18th
	24 Hours of Le Mans - Hypercar		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	9th
	24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9	Manthey EMA	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
2024	FIA World Endurance Championship - Hypercar	Porsche Penske Motorsport	8	0	2	0	4	104	5th
	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD Pro	AO Racing	4	1	1	0	2	1208	17th
2025	FIA World Endurance Championship - Hypercar	Porsche Penske Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0	2	10th*

† – As Christensen was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points. ^* Season still in progress.

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
Source: [9]

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 IMSA 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	Ref
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	[10]
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	[11]
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	[12]
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	[13]
2021	WeatherTech Racing	GTLM	Porsche 911 RSR-19	Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6	DAY	SEB	DET	WGL	WGL	LIM	ELK	LGA	LBH	VIR	PET 2		11th	348	[14]
2023	Porsche Penske Motorsport	GTP	Porsche 963	Porsche 9RD 4.6 L V8	DAY 7	SEB 5	LBH	LGA	WGL	MOS	ELK	IMS	PET				18th	556	[15]
2024	AO Racing	GTD Pro	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6	DAY 2	SEB 9	LGA	DET	WGL	MOS	ELK	VIR	IMS 1	PET 11			17th	1208	[16]
Source: [9]

Complete FIA World Endurance 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	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
2021	Porsche GT Team	LMGTE Pro	Porsche 911 RSR-19	Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6	SPA	ALG 3	MNZ	LMS 2	BHR	BHR 2				5th	88
2022	Porsche GT Team	LMGTE Pro	Porsche 911 RSR-19	Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6	SEB 1	SPA 2	LMS 4	MNZ 4	FUJ 3	BHR 3				2nd	132
2023	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Hypercar	Porsche 963	Porsche 4.6 L Turbo V8	SEB 5	ALG 10	SPA 4	LMS 7	MNZ 4	FUJ 12	BHR 7			7th	61
2024	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Hypercar	Porsche 963	Porsche 4.6 L Turbo V8	QAT 3	IMO 3	SPA Ret	LMS 6	SÃO 3	COA 7	FUJ Ret	BHR 2		5th	104
2025	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Hypercar	Porsche 963	Porsche 4.6 L Turbo V8	QAT 10	IMO	SPA	LMS	SÃO	COA	FUJ	BHR		10th*	2*
Sources: [9] [17]

^* Season still in progress.

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
2021	Porsche GT Team	Kévin Estre Neel Jani	Porsche 911 RSR-19	GTE Pro	344	22nd	3rd
2022	Porsche GT Team	Kévin Estre Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 911 RSR-19	GTE Pro	348	31st	4th
2023	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Dane Cameron Frédéric Makowiecki	Porsche 963	Hypercar	325	16th	9th
2024	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Matt Campbell Frédéric Makowiecki	Porsche 963	Hypercar	311	6th	6th
Sources: [9] [18]

References

1. Video from the accident ^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}
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.
6. James, Richard (17 December 2022). "Porsche clarifies driver lineups for IMSA and WEC". racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing Inc. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
7. "Full World Endurance Championship 2024 entry list". autosport.com. 2024-02-19. Archived from the original on 2024-05-30. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
8. "Formula BMW Europe. 2009 Championship Guide" (PDF). bmw-motorsport.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-09-20. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
9. "Michael Christensen Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
10. "Michael Christensen – 2014 Tudor United SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
11. "Michael Christensen – 2015 Tudor United SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
12. "Michael Christensen – 2016 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
13. "Michael Christensen – 2017 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
14. "Michael Christensen – 2021 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
15. "Michael Christensen – 2023 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
16. "Michael Christensen – 2024 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
17. "Michael Christensen". FIA World Endurance Championship . Retrieved 18 September 2024.
18. "Michael Christensen". Automobile Club de l'Ouest . Retrieved 18 September 2024.

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