Motorsport activity in Zhuhai predates the permanent facility. A street circuit hosted racing in 1993, and events continued there until 1996, when the permanent track was completed. The circuit was built with FIA Formula One homologation in mind, and ZIC was included in the provisional 1999 Formula One calendar. It failed to secure a place on the final calendar after not meeting all FIA standards; Formula One subsequently moved to the Shanghai International Circuit instead.
The track layout originally featured 16 corners. Following a layout-change request from the FIM, corners 7, 8, and 9 were consolidated into a single corner, reducing the total to 14 turns. In its current configuration the circuit is 4.319 km long, runs clockwise, and features nine right-hand turns and five left-hand turns. The main start–finish straight stretches 900 metres at up to 14 metres wide; the shorter straight measures 500 metres. Zhuhai International Circuit holds FIA Grade II certification.
The first international race held at the permanent circuit was the BPR Global GT Series in 1996. The facility quickly became a hub for regional motorsport, with teams from Hong Kong and Macau using its garages as operational bases.
The FIA GT Championship visited Zhuhai in 1997 for a race in the inaugural season of that series, then returned in 1999, 2004, 2005, and 2007. The 2007 round was postponed from October 2006 to March 2007 to avoid calendar conflicts with the Shanghai Formula One Grand Prix and the Macau Grand Prix. That race was won by the All-Inkl.com Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT driven by Christophe Bouchut and Stefan Mucke, with the GT2 class going to the AF Corse Ferrari F430 GT2 of Dirk Müller and Toni Vilander.
The circuit hosted the fourth round of the 2007–08 A1 Grand Prix season on 16 December 2007. The sprint race was won by Michael Ammermüller driving for Team Germany, and the feature race went to Narain Karthikeyan of Team India. Ammermüller also set the fastest ever qualifying lap at the circuit during that weekend — a 1:23.203 on a Lola A1GP — though the time is not classified as the official lap record since lap records require racing rather than qualifying laps.
Endurance racing has featured prominently at ZIC. In May 2004 the circuit hosted the Endurance World Championship 6 Hours of Zhuhai, the first international motorcycle race held at the venue. The race was won by GMT 94 Racing. Le Mans-affiliated endurance racing returned in 2010 and 2011, when the circuit staged rounds of the Le Mans Intercontinental Cup: the 1000 km of Zhuhai in 2010 and the 6 Hours of Zhuhai in 2011, the latter serving as the finale of the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup season. The Asian Le Mans Series has also held its 4 Hours of Zhuhai at the circuit, including events in 2013, 2016, and 2017.
American open-wheel racing came close to establishing itself at Zhuhai. In November 2006, Roberto Moreno drove a 2007 Panoz DP01 Champ Car at the circuit, setting an unofficial lap of 1:23.612 during a demonstration run — the first time a Champ Car had turned laps in China. A multi-year deal was announced, but the planned 2007 race was cancelled after the series failed to obtain FIA approval for its October date, and the subsequent Champ Car–Indy Racing League unification ended the prospect.
The Asian Formula Three Championship ran at Zhuhai in 2002 and from 2005 to 2008. The Asia Road Racing Championship has been a recurring fixture, racing at the circuit in 2001–2002, 2004–2012, 2019, and 2023–2024. Other series with significant histories at Zhuhai include the Asian Touring Car Series, Formula Renault Asia Cup, Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, and the China GT Championship.
The fastest official race lap records at the circuit span several classes. Among unofficial benchmarks, the fastest GT1 time belongs to a Porsche 911 GT1 run by Porsche AG in the 1996 4 Hours of Zhuhai, recorded at 1:30.401. The fastest unofficial motorcycle lap was set by Mark Aitchison of the Splitlath team during a Pan Delta 1000cc Superbike race, at 1:33.725 on an EBR RS 1190.
In October 2003, Dragon Hill Corporation Ltd — part of Malaysia's LBS Bina Group — acquired Lamdeal Investment Ltd, which holds a 60 per cent stake in Zhuhai International Circuit Ltd, for US$1. The acquisition was framed around the long-term potential of the circuit land. In June 2024, LBS Bina announced it was selling its stake in the circuit for RMB 192.18 million to Huafa Urban Operation (HK) Ltd, with Huafa also settling approximately RM 147.9 million in outstanding loans as part of the transaction.
A kart circuit was added to the ZIC complex in 2004. In 2011, the Sunny Racing Club was established at the facility, running a single-make Sunny Kart chassis with 2-stroke 100 cc Yamaha engines. The circuit has also been active as an event and product-launch venue, with automotive manufacturers and dealers using the track for customer drive days.
ZIC has operated as a motorsport event promoter alongside its role as a venue, organising the FIA GT Championship rounds in China and establishing the inaugural China Superbike Championship in 2007 in partnership with the China Motorcycle Sports Association.
The circuit has been represented in several racing simulation titles. GTR2 includes a version of the track modelled on the 2004 FIA GT Championship season. Zhuhai International Circuit also appears in Project CARS. In March 2018, the track was added to RaceRoom Racing Experience.