N.J. F1 organizer denies report that race will be pushed back to 2014

New Jersey is still on track to hold its first Formula One race in June 2013, according to those involved with the event, despite reports earlier this week that the race was facing delays.

New Jersey is still on track to hold its first Formula One race in June 2013, according to those involved with the event, despite reports earlier this week that the race was facing delays.

Doubts were raised Tuesday when the BBC reported Bernie Ecclestone, the commercial chief of the global racing circuit, suggested the race might not happen until 2014. Ecclestone told the news outlet “there was some doubt about whether the track would be ready in time,” according to the report, available here.

But a spokesman for Grand Prix of America at Port Imperial, the race organizer in New Jersey, was quick to dismiss Ecclestone’s comments.

“There’s nothing to it,” said the spokesman, Stephen Sigmund. “The race is on, as scheduled, for 2013.”

The 3.2-mile waterfront race course will be laid out in West New York and Weehawken, largely in the Port Imperial development owned by Roseland Property Co.

“As the primary land owner for the race site, we continue to plan and prepare for a June 2013 race,” said Carl Goldberg, managing partner of Roseland, in an e-mailed message.

The event is expected to be the start of a 10-year run of Grand Prix races at the Hudson County site.

Sigmund said the planning effort has reached several milestones since Gov. Chris Christie and organizers announced the race in October. Organizers have finalized agreements with Weehawken and West New York, started construction on garages and pits, and conducted track engineering that includes pavement and course testing, he said.