Shanghai: the presentation in numbers

Within the World Endurance Championship (WEC), Shanghai is part of the furniture. The Chinese circuit has always been included in the calendar since the championship’s inception in 2012, a year when the round even served as the finale. Toyota emerged victorious thanks to the duo Alexander Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre. The Japanese manufacturer also holds a few track records. Here’s an overview.

0

However, present since 2012 in GTE – Pro and a record holder of world titles, Ferrari has never won the 6 Hours of Shanghai.

1

Ho Pin Tung became the first Chinese category winner in Shanghai last year, in LMP2 with the Chinese team Jackie Chan DC Racing.

Mike Conway is the only driver to have won the race in two categories. He won in LMP2 with G-Drive Racing in 2013 and in LMP1 with Toyota in 2018.

2

The LMP1 podium in Shanghai in 2018 hosted a reunion of former Formula 1 world champions and McLaren teammates Fernando Alonso (Toyota) and Jenson Button (SMP Racing). The duo shared a podium for the first time since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. (info @WECdata)

The crew of Timo Bernhard, Brandon Hartley, and Mark Webber won the race consecutively in 2015 and 2016 with Porsche. They are the only ones to do so in LMP1. Darren Turner and Stephan Mucke also did it in GTE-Pro with Aston Martin, as well as Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell with Ford.

3

In LMP2, the G-drive Racing team holds three victories (2013, 2014, and 2016), the record for the category.

In GTE – Pro, it’s Aston Martin that has won the most with three victories (2012, 2013, 2018), just as in GTE-Am (2014, 2016, 2017).

4

Toyota is the manufacturer with the most wins in Shanghai with four victories (2012, 2014, 2017, and 2018). The Japanese company has also achieved four pole positions.

102,526

The fastest lap time in seconds during the race was achieved in 2017 by Kamui Kobayashi (Toyota) with 1 minute 42 seconds and 526 milliseconds.

195

The record for the number of laps is co-held by the Toyota of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima in 2017 and the Porsche of Timo Bernhard, Brandon Hartley, and Mark Webber in 2016. In contrast, only 113 laps were covered by the winner last year, in a rainy edition.

316.7

The highest recorded speed in kilometers per hour in Shanghai. It was achieved by Alexandre Imperatori in his Rebellion. The Swiss driver reached 316.7 km/h in 2015. (info @WEC Data)

71

This is the percentage chance that the winner of the Fuji race will also win in China. The Racing Team Nederland’s performance this year?

The LMP2 winning team at #6hFuji has followed it up with a win in Shanghai 71% of the time – or 5 @FIAWEC seasons from 7.

ADR #25 in 2012, @GDrive_Racing #26 in 2014 & 2016, @RebellionRacing #31 in 2017, before @DCRacing_Team in 2018, with #38 backing up the #37’s 🇯🇵 victory. pic.twitter.com/YskVAm774R

— WEC DATA (@WECDATA) November 4, 2019

If numbers never lie, they will be more difficult to compare this year. The race indeed goes from six to four hours, which is the shortest possible duration in WEC.

31

This is the number of cars that are entered. Absent at Fuji, the Porsche No. 78 of Proton Competition (Philippe Prette, Louis Prette, Vincent Abril) is making its return.

87

This is the number of drivers who will be at the start. A number that sounds a bit off, doesn’t it? Indeed, all crews will be composed of three drivers… Except for the GTE-Pro, which will only have two. Few changes to report compared to Fuji. In LMP1, Jordan King replaces Luca Giotto on the Ginetta of team LNT #6. In LMP2, Paul di Resta replaces Oliver Jarvis on the Oreca of United Autosport #22. Finally, in GTE-AM, Larry Ten Vorde replaces Felipe Fraga in the Porsche of team Project One #67.