New York finally ready to host American GP

After working on it for years Bernie Ecclestone has finally achieved his dream of a Grand Prix in the vicinity of New York, with confirmation that a second US race will be twinned with Montréal in the 2013 calendar.

The race will be held on the streets of the towns of Weehawken and West New York in New Jersey, directly opposite the Manhattan skyline. Hermann Tilke will create a track that will run on roads around the port area and will also feature – somewhat in the style of Ste Devote to Casino Square – a dramatic high-speed uphill section and subsequent plunge back down.

The man behind the project is Leo Hindery, a television mogul who has raced GT cars at Le Mans.

“New Jersey is going to be good,” said Ecclestone. “They’ll get the job done. We had lots of opportunities to do this, but we didn’t do it because you can’t see anything in the middle of big buildings. Here you’ll be able to see all of Manhattan. It’s going to be a nice circuit.”

“It’s a very fast track,” said Tilke. “It looks to be very interesting, and it’s all on existing roads. The paddock will be where the ferry terminal is, so people can move easily from the hotels in Manhattan to the circuit.

“The track goes uphill and downhill – the height difference is almost 60 metres, which is a lot. And there are no houses inside the circuit, so it doesn’t create too many problems with the organisation.”

Meanwhile there are new doubts over the 2012 US GP due to be held in Austin, Texas. Ecclestone is in dispute with the project’s founder Tavo Hellmund and the organisation creating the Circuit of the Americas track. As Motor Sport closed for press the company announced it was ceasing construction work on the circuit until it received a signed contract from Ecclestone.