Fernando Alonso crashes in second Indy 500 practice

Fernando Alonso suffered the first major incident of practice for the Indianapolis 500 when he crashed in Turns 3 and 4 of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Alonso was riding behind Graham Rahal when he washed up the track in Turn 3 and hit the wall. He spun and hit the inside wall before scating accross the track and gently hitting the outside wall again. His No. 66 McLaren Racing Chevrolet suffered considerable damage to the rear. The two-time Formula One world champion walked away from the car and was checked and cleared by the IU University Medical Center staff.

“It was just pure understeer on the car," he said. "Even if I lifted the throttle on the entry to the corner it was not enough. I lost completely the front aero there. The wall came too close and too quickly.

"Unfortunately, it happened today and we will lose a little bit of running time again. I’m sorry for the team. We’ll learn and come back stronger tomorrow.”

The Spaniard has had his share of drama in his return to Indianapolis. Electrical problems hindered yesterday's practice run and he completed 50 laps with a best lap of 40.1496 seconds (225.433 mph), a near whole second behind the fastest driver Will Power (39.1738s). His best time so far today is 39.9231s after  logging 46 laps.

Team Mclaren evalutated the damage and will make repairs to the car rather than rolling out the backup entry.