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The Formula One race in New Jersey will not happen in 2013. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

New Jersey Formula One race postponed

October 17, 2012

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UPDATE WITH ECCLESTONE COMMENT: Fans of Formula One hoping that the U.S. would get two races in 2013 will have to wait at least until 2014, as the June 16, 2013 race on the banks of the Hudson River in New Jersey has been cancelled for 2013. The race had been listed as “to be confirmed” on the F1 calendar, but multiple sources are citing Weehawken, N.J. Mayor Richard Turner as confirming the postponement. Weehawken is one of the cities that the 3.2-mile temporary street course, directly across the river from Manhattan, would pass through. The other city is West New York, N.J.

“They've run out of time,” Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone told Reuters. “There's all sorts of things... and they didn't quite think it all through. They've had a wake-up call but the wake-up call came too late.

“They couldn't get everything ready in time. That's the bottom line.”

The cancellation, or postponement, has no effect on the Formula One race that debuts next month at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas.

So far, there is no official word from the Grand Prix of America offices in New York City, but a statement is expected Friday. Additional sources have confirmed to Autoweek that the race will not happen in 2013. The unofficial reason: Not enough money has been raised to pay the fee, rumored to be around $30 million per year.

The race organizers, led by financier for former sports car racer Leo Hindery, Jr., had yet to announce a source of major funding for the event.

This is not the first sign of trouble with the project. In June, Bernie Ecclestone, the head of the Formula One race series, said in an interview with the BBC that the Grand Prix of America, scheduled to be run in New Jersey next summer, may not happen. “We're on schedule,” Hindery said in response then to Ecclestone. “Two weeks ago we had Sebastian Vettel there, along with his sponsors Red Bull and Infiniti,” he added, referring to the two-time Formula One champion who drove the circuit in an Infiniti G37 IPL coupe.

Then in August, Tom Cotter, president of the group, resigned, and since then, little has been heard from Hindery's group.