Organisers of the inaugural New Jersey F1 race, scheduled for a June 2013 calendar slot, have dismissed suggestions that it is in doubt.

The race was announced last October, as the event that will finally see F1 race against New York's Manhattan skyline, but last month Bernie Ecclestone told the BBC: "Maybe the New York race will be 2013. It's a when - 2013 or 2014."

Ecclestone has now said that the organisers have failed to meet financial deadlines.

"I don't know if it's going to happen," he told ESPN. "I hope everything will be OK. They are sorting things out internally with some of their funds. If they are ready for 2013 we will have them."

A spokesman for the New Jersey event would not discuss contractual issues but said: "We are on track for a June 2013 race, with all course engineering and construction progressing precisely on schedule, a strong management team in place, and strong ongoing support from New Jersey, New York City and the local communities involved."

Grand Prix of America organisers have suffered a blow after the company's president, Tom Cotter, announced that he is to resign from his post.

Cotter was only appointed to the role in January. After leaving his position at the end of this month his duties will be taken over by Dennis Robinson, the event's chief operations engineer, and Richard Goldschmidt, the special assistant to race promoter Leo Hindery Jr.

In a statement that was issued to the New York Times, Cotter said he was sure the event would prove to be a success - despite recent suggestions from Bernie Ecclestone that there were doubts about the venue getting finished in time.

"I have full faith in the Grand Prix of America team and look forward to sitting in the grandstands at a world-class race in 2013," explained Cotter, who plans to return to his former sports marketing company.

Hindery Jr added: "We're all thankful for Tom's leadership in bringing Formula 1 to Port Imperial. During his stewardship we've made great progress and are less than a year away from the sport's top racers speeding around a street course with New York City in the background."

The inaugural event in New Jersey is expected to take place in June next year, as a back-to-back event with the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

F1's scheduled trek to New Jersey next year is hitting more roadblocks.

The debut race, amid New York's famed Manhattan skyline, had to be postponed last year, due to organisational and funding delays.

Now, chief marketing officer Trip Wheeler, and chief financial officer Michael Cummings, have left the project.

President Tom Cotter departed last August.

"While we have not yet named replacements, duties have been absorbed by our executive team and we look forward to announcing additional staff as we approach next year's race," a spokesman for race organiser Leo Hindery is quoted by nj.com.

"Race progress, including permitting and course construction, continues to move forward and we are on pace for a world class race in 2014," the organisation added in a statement.

But Christian Sylt, an F1 business expert and confidante of the sport's chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, is pessimistic.

"I would be absolutely astonished if this happens," he told the Star-Ledger.

"I have got no evidence that the organisers have obtained funding to host the race and, crucially, there is no evidence whatsoever that they have got a contract with (Ecclestone)."

Long Beach race founder Chris Pook has been signed up to help organise next year's inaugural formula one race in New Jersey.

On Thursday, amid scepticism the street race will ever take place, we reported that the project's chief marketing officer and chief financial offer have left.

But in a media statement issued after the publication of those reports, the 'Grand Prix of America' announced that Pook has now joined as 'special assistant' to organiser Leo Hindery.

Most recently, Pook - who brought F1 to Long Beach in the mid 70s - was linked with the sport's potential return to those same Californian streets.

But, now, Pook "will provide consultation with respect to all aspects of construction, planning and execution" of New Jersey's F1 race, the statement said.

"Chris has a history of great success in formula one, which I'm confident he'll bring to the grand prix of America race," Bernie Ecclestone is quoted as saying.

F1 has invested financially in the project to put the sport amid the fabled New York skyline.

Amid suggestions the already delayed New Jersey street race might now falter altogether, the project announced this week that Long Beach grand prix founder Chris Pook has joined up.

"Chris has a history of great success in formula one, which I'm confident he'll bring to the grand prix of America race," Ecclestone said earlier this week.

Now, in the Barcelona paddock, the F1 chief executive revealed that he has committed some of the sport's money to the New Jersey project.

"There's no reason why it shouldn't happen," Ecclestone told Reuters on Saturday.

"We've put money behind it to pay a lot of the things off, a lot of their debts," he said, explaining that he will look to recoup the money later.

"We're going to try and make it happen next year."

Ecclestone also hinted he might be lining up a race on the streets of Long Beach as a potential alternative to New Jersey.

"If we do this (in New Jersey), it (Long Beach) won't (happen)," said the 82-year-old.

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is the most successful and longest-running street race in North America and it's also the second most prestigious victory an IndyCar driver can achieve. Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone evidently wants it back.

And a closed-door session of the Long Beach City Council on Tuesday will determine if the contract will be put up for bid.

"What will transpire Tuesday night is that the city council will vote on whether they wish to issue an RFP (Request For Proposal) to determine whether Long Beach will continue with the IndyCar weekend and the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach or consider another party that wants to conduct a Formula 1 race," said Jim Michaelian, the GPALB president and CEO who is currently preparing for the 40th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 11-13. "Our contract runs through 2015 and we are asking the city to extend this very productive relationship for another five years if the RFP is denied."

F1 Long Beach 1980Of course, the irony of this is that F1 helped put Long Beach on the map by running from 1976-'83 after founder Chris Pook debuted his Monaco-like idea in 1975 with a Formula 5000 race. Pook opted to drop Ecclestone for the less-expensive Championship Auto Racing Teams in 1984 and it's either been a CART, Champ Car or IndyCar event ever since. But, as the rights holder to F1 in Southern California, Pook is now trying to help Ecclestone get back into the city that was modernized and revitalized by auto racing.

"We learned last June that the contract doesn't have an automatic renewal on it and the only thing we want to do it bid on it," said Pook, who sold GPALB to Dover Downs Entertainment in 1998 and the race is now owned by current IndyCar team owner Kevin Kalkhoven and partner Gerry Forsythe, a longtime CART regular. "We just want to demonstrate what F1 economics can do for the city."

Thanks to Toyota, the title sponsor for 35 consecutive years, Long Beach was able to weather the CART/Indy Racing League split, CART's bankruptcy, the Champ Car era and the unification of open-wheel in 2008. Long Beach doesn't have the massive crowds it did from 1980-'83 in F1 or from 1988-'98 in CART but it's regained some momentum the past few years.

"We've always met or exceeded our commitment to the city and we've continued to be a substantial contributor to the overall economy of Long Beach," said Michaelian, a mainstay at Long Beach since the inception of the race and Pook's right-hand-man for 25 years.

It's not known how much money Ecclestone requires but it's substantially more than IndyCar's sanction fee and it's believed several million dollars would be needed to upgrade the track and paddock, as well as lengthen the course for F1.

Regardless of what happens Tuesday, Pook promises: "Formula 1 will be in Southern California by 2016."