1. Shanghai has seen a combined 206 cars start the previous seven runnings, with 22 of those failing to see the chequered flag, making an 89.3% finish rate.

2. The 206 starters at Shanghai have raced for 31,332 laps in all, or 170,791 km. The most came in 2016, with the 31 entrants covering 27,849 km, for the only time more than 5,000 laps have been covered in China.

3. The LMP1 podium at Shanghai 2018 hosted a reunion of former F1 World Champions and McLaren F1 team-mates Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, the pair sharing a podium for the first time since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. Alonso’s Toyota TS050 featured Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi, whilst Button’s SMP Racing BR1 crew contained Vitaly Petrov – all former F1 drivers.

4. All four class lap records were broken in 2017, with Sebastien Buemi lapping the 5.451km circuit in 1m45.892s to set a new WEC race lap record.  Because of the heavy rain during the 2018 race, none of the 2017 records were broken.

5. Pedro Lamy (LMGTE AM) has both the race in Shanghai four times and in two different cars (Corvette in 2012 and Aston Martin in 2014 / 2016 / 2017).  The Portuguese driver has also the most class pole positions with five, all for Aston Martin (2014/2015/2016/2017/2018).

6. Julien Canal is the only driver to have won the race in Shanghai in two different classes (LMGTE Am in 2012 and LMP2 in 2014 and 2017)

7. G-Drive Racing has won the LMP2 class three times (2013, 2014 and 2016). 

8. Jackie Chan DC Racing won the LMP2 class in 2018, becoming the first Chinese flagged team to win at home in Shanghai.

9. The longest race distance was in 2016 with Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber winning after completing 1062.95km (195 laps).  This race distance was equalled in 2017.  

10. Ferrari has never won in the LMGTE Pro class at Shanghai.  Aston Martin won in 2012, 2013 and 2018, Porsche won in 2014 and 2015 and Ford in 2016 and 2017. 

11. Chevrolet won the LMGTE Am class in 2012 with Larbre Competition, in 2013 it was Ferrari with 8 Star Motorsports, Ferrari with AF Corse in 2015, Aston Martin Racing in 2014, 2016 and 2017, with Porsche taking their first class win in 2018 with Dempsey-Proton Racing.

12. Stefan Mucke has secured the LMGTE Pro pole position three times for two different manufacturers.  In 2013 and 2014 the German driver took pole position with Aston Martin, alongside Darren Turner, and in 2018 he took pole position with Olivier Pla for Ford in the American manufacturers final season in the WEC.

13. Pedro Lamy secured the LMGTE Am pole five times in the seven editions of the Shanghai race, four with Canadian driver Paul Dalla Lana. In 2019 Dalla Lana is looking to secure his fifth consecutive pole with his new teammates Darren Turner, who has three LMGTE Pro class poles in Shanghai, and Ross Gunn. 

14. Mike Conway, Nicki Thiim and Olivier Pla have all secured pole position for the race in Shanghai in two different classes.  Conway in LMP2 (2013) and LMP1 (2017/ 2018), Thiim in LMGTE Am (2013) and LMGTE Pro (2017) and Pla in LMP2 (2014) and LMGTE Pro (2018). 

15. Aston Martin has been the most successful brand in LMGTE qualifying taking the class pole on no less than 10 occasions from a maximum of 14 (6 in LMGTE Am and 4 in LMGTE Pro).

16. In LMP1 Alex Wurz secured pole position for Toyota in 2012 and 2013 (with Nicolas Lapierre), in 2014 Neel Jani and Romain Dumas and in 2015 and 2016 Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley took pole position for Porsche. In 2017 and 2018 Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway took pole for Toyota

17. The fastest pole position average lap was set in 2015 with a 1m42.719 by Brendon Hartley (1m42.621) and Mark Webber (1m42.818)

18. Lap Records

Shanghai International Circuit

19. Work started in April 2003 and in 18 months the area was transformed from swampland to an international racetrack with a team of 3000 engineers working around the clock.

20. The track layout was inspired from the Chinese character shang  (上) the first character in the name of the city Shanghai, meaning "above" or "ascend".

21. Circuit Length:  5.451 km (3.387 miles) / 1170m: The length of the back straight at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Shanghai

22. With a population of 24,256,800 (in 2014), Shanghai is the largest Chinese city by population and the largest city proper by population in the world.

23. Shanghai municipality area is 6,340.5 km2 or 2,448.1 sq miles

24. The two Chinese characters in the city's name are 上 (shàng, "above") and 海 (hǎi, "sea"), together meaning "Upon-the-Sea".

25. Shanghai also has various nicknames in English, including "Pearl of the Orient" and "Paris of the East".