This season's Belgian Grand Prix has been cancelled, according to reports in Belgium.
The race promoter recently went bankrupt with heavy debts but local officials had hoped to persuade Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone to step in and promote the event at Spa-Francorchamps.
Ecclestone claimed last week he would reluctantly agree to that proposal, claiming: "We need to keep Spa alive don't we?"
However, the Belgian media is today claiming Ecclestone has ended negotiations and pulled the race from Formula One's 2006 calendar.
Serge Kubla, the former economics minister of the Walloon region of Belgium, told the local parliament that sources close to Ecclestone had confirmed the news. He said too little time was left to improve facilities at Spa-Francorchamps before the planned race on September 17th.
Kubla criticised the local government of the Walloon region, in which Spa is situated, for their handling of the affair.
He told Le Soir newspaper: "They politicized the issue to the extreme. They dramatized the things and started negotiations to write a new contract whereas the problem was not there."
If the Belgian race is cancelled, the 2006 season would be trimmed to 18 races.