INDY 500: Chilton crashes just before qualifying

Former Marussia Formula 1 driver Max Chilton escaped serious injury after he shunted his Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara-Chevrolet at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in a rain-delayed IndyCar practice.

The British driver, who is competing his first season in the series, suffered a heavy impact nose-first into the wall at Turn 2, causing a full-course caution. The accident happened just five minutes into Saturday morning's practice session and came after Chilton had turned a lap at 228mph.

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Chilton escaped from the car uninjured and waved to the fans before returning to the paddock to be checked over by the circuit's medical team.

The crash came in the first group of the Saturday practice, which was delayed by more than three hours after downpours at the track.

The session, which was initially due to be a two-hour practice, was truncated to two 20 minute sessions, with the first day of qualifying having been pushed back over three hours.

Saturday's qualifying will now finish one hour later than originally scheduled, at 7pm local time.

The session's main purpose is to split the field into the nine cars that will participate in Sunday's pole shootout and the 24-strong group that will fight for positions 10-33.

Originally on Autosport.com