F1: New Jersey relishing chance to stage race

The United States is set to feature on the F1 calendar for the first time since 2007 with next year’s race in Austin, Texas. Now governor Chris Christie is preparing to announce the 2013 deal for New Jersey at a press conference scheduled for later today. Roque said: “It’s incredible. This is going to be an economic boom for this whole region.”

It has been claimed that the race will take place on a four-lane motorway that runs alongside the Hudson River in Weehawken, West New York.

“It will provide a very challenging course,” West New York attorney Joe DeMarco said.

“They compare it to Spa in Belgium but it will have the feel of Monaco.”

Lewis Hamilton won the last US Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2007.

The event’s eight-year run there came to an end when F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone failed to agree new terms with the circuit’s owners.

Ecclestone’s plans to take a race to the New York area were first revealed when he began talks with representatives of Monticello Motor Club (MMC) in New York in 2009.

Austin-based promoters Full Throttle Productions overcame competition from MMC to stage a race at a purpose-built track with a deal through to 2021.

But, two years on, a deal has now been reached with a consortium of investors and city and state governments for a race to take place in New Jersey.