WSJ, 5-Dec-134
Bernie Ecclestone said Tuesday That 'What We're Aiming for is 2015'
The on-again, off-again saga of the planned New
Jersey Formula One race has taken another turn.
Bernie Ecclestone, the head of F1, said in a
telephone interview Tuesday that New Jersey's F1 debut won't happen in 2014, as
had been hoped. Ecclestone said the New Jersey race will be postponed "for lots
and lots and lots of reasons."
"We are not satisfied it's going to happen in time,"
he said. "What we're aiming for is 2015."
Race promoter Leo Hindery Jr. didn't immediately
return a call seeking comment.
Ecclestone's statement comes on the eve of a Paris
meeting of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Motor Sport
Council, which controls F1. The official 2014 schedule is expected to be
announced following the meeting Wednesday.
The Grand Prix of America in New Jersey was first
announced in October 2011, with a June 2013 target date. Hindery, a former chief
executive of the YES Network, had planned a street circuit to run through
Weehawken and West New York, against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. F1
is the world's most sophisticated and popular form of motor sport, and the race
was expected to lure over 100,000 fans.
Because of financial setbacks, the race was postponed
to 2014. In September, FIA released a preliminary 2014 calendar with the New
Jersey race scheduled for June, with an asterisk ("subject to the circuit
approval"). Now, however, according to Ecclestone, New Jersey's Grand Prix of
America will be postponed again.
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