Auto GP to reintroduce prize money from 2014

Under the new system the top-three points finishers over each double-header race weekend will be rewarded from a season prize pool of circa 300,000 Euros.

Prize money was initially offered by the series from its inaugural season in 2010 and continued for the following two seasons.

However, a substantial investment in updating the technical package to machinery over the winter of 2012-2013 led to prize money being suspended this season.

Organisers cited high interest in the series for 2014 from prospective teams and drivers as further reason to reinstatement the prize fund.

"Auto GP is currently the only championship to provide its most deserving drivers with race-by-race prize money for 2014," said Enzo Coloni.

"We started our prize money programme in the earliest stage of our history, and as requests to bring it back, especially coming from the new teams, was quite high, we decided to re-introduce the programme."

The 2013 Auto GP drivers' title will be contested by series' leader Vittorio Ghirelli, Kimiya Sato, Sergio Campana and Narain Karthikeyan at the final round at Brno in early October.

Coloni pointed to the results at last weekend's Monza Grand Prix meeting by former Auto GP drivers as evidence of his category's value.

"Romain Grosjean drove a solid race in Formula 1 while Adrian Quaife-Hobbs took his maiden GP2 win and Vittorio Ghirelli scored his first point in the series," continued Coloni.

"These results demonstrate once again how the Auto GP school can deliver at international level, in addition to being an extremely valuable choice in economic terms."