Motor racing:Next year's French Formula One Grand Prix looks likely to be cancelled after the French Motorsport Federation (FFSA) withdrew its financial backing today.
"After examining the economic situation, the FFSA renounces to be the financial promoters of a Formula One Grand Prix," the national governing body said in a statement.
"As a result, and as long as a promoter capable of succeeding the FFSA has not been identified, the French Grand Prix will not be able to feature on the FIA international calendar in 2009," the statement added.
The French Grand Prix was expected to be staged one last time next year at Magny-Cours, a rural venue unpopular with teams and sponsors, before moving to a new circuit outside Paris from 2010.
The Magny-Cours race retained its slot with a June 28th date on the 18-round 2009 calendar published last week by the International Automobile Federation (FIA).
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone had agreed to allow one more year at Magny-Cours after previously stating that it would be axed.
The French round would be the second event to disappear from the 2009 calendar after the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, which had been on an earlier provisional list but was dropped last week.
It was not immediately clear whether France's likely disappearance might allow Canada, a commercially important race for the car manufacturers who dominate the sport, a late reprieve.
The FFSA has a contract to run the French race until 2011 but Ecclestone wants to move it to a track closer to Paris. Disneyland Paris is a favoured option for the future, with plenty of hotel rooms and easy rail access from Paris and the rest of Europe.
Poor accomodation facilities and difficult access are regarded as the main weaknesses of the Magny-Cours track.
The FFSA said today it was studying six "serious and worthwhile" projects, most of which involved a new track near the French capital.