Alonso back on track for qualifying at Indy 500

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Former Formula One champion Fernando Alonso was back on the track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and ran practice laps for the Indy 500 on Friday. Alonso drove a backup car after his team McLaren lost almost two full days of practice following the Spaniard's crash on Wednesday. The team needed the entire next day to rebuild Alonso's car.

Alonso has completed 77 laps of the famous Indianapolis Oval circuit during the "fast Friday" and he recorded more laps than any other driver. However, he had to settle for the 24th position on the day.

The former Formula One double world champion said, "The day was positive, we were able to resume the track and try different configurations, different settings."

Earlier, until Thursday, Alonso could manage to complete just 96 laps over the past three days of practice, compared to the 302 laps Spencer Pigot of Ed Carpenter Racing had covered. Electrical glitches on Tuesday restricted Alonso's running to 50 laps before he suffered a crash at Turn 3 on Wednesday having run 46 laps.

Fernando Alonso (C) of Spain, the driver of the #29 McLaren-Honda-Andretti Honda, exits his car after his engine expired during the 101st Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motorspeedway in Indianapolis, U.S., May 28, 2017. /VCG File Photo

As a result of that McLaren were forced to switch from its UK-built chassis to the Carlin/John Cummiskey-built back-up car and had to fit it with a fresh Chevrolet engine as the original had suffered damage.

Incidentally, McLaren, which was part of the multi-car Andretti Autosport effort two years ago, is running as a separate entity as a one-off IndyCar entrant in 2019.

The qualifiers start Saturday for the 36 drivers enrolled in the 103rd edition of the prestigious 500 miles of Indianapolis, which will take place on May 26.

Alonso had participated at the Brickyard for the first time in 2017 and was forced to abandon with an engine failure midway during the race. He is now trying to become the second driver after the British Graham Hill to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport, after his successes in the Monaco Grand Prix in F1 and 24 hours of Le Mans Endurance race.