Tracy tops chaotic wet practice

Although conditions had eased from the storm and downpour that caused IndyCar Series practice to begin nearly an hour and a half behind schedule, the circuit remained very treacherous.

This was immediately proved when Dario Franchitti (Ganassi) did a 360 degree spin out of the final corner on his first lap, and then Andretti Green's Tony Kanaan backed heavily into the wall on the entry to the corner.

The incidents continued incessantly after Kanaan's wreckage was cleared up, with the next stoppage caused by Ryan Hunter-Reay stalling at Turn 8 and Marco Andretti emulating team-mate Kanaan's incident in less damaging fashion.

Vision's Ed Carpenter then became the third and final man to hit the Turn 11 wall, with pace-setter Tracy causing the final caution when he spun and stalled on the exit of Turn 3. Having been restarted by the safety crew, the home hero then spun again at Turn 5 while returning to the pits.

With the session reduced from 60 to 35 minutes in the hope of bringing the day back on schedule, there was little opportunity for clear running between the constant yellows, and many drivers gave up without completing an uninterrupted flying lap.

The top four was filled by KV and AGR cars, with Danica Patrick second to Tracy, whose team-mate Mario Moraes was third ahead of Patrick's stablemate Hideki Mutoh.

EJ Viso completed the top five for HVM.

The weather is expected to remain wet for qualifying, but forecasts predict dry conditions for tomorrow's race.

Pos  Driver             Team            Time        Gap
 1.  Paul Tracy         KV              1m15.5345s
 2.  Danica Patrick     Andretti Green  1m16.0191s  + 0.4846s
 3.  Mario Moraes       KV              1m16.1242s  + 0.5897s
 4.  Hideki Mutoh       Andretti Green  1m16.3271s  + 0.7926s
 5.  Ernesto Viso       HVM             1m16.4231s  + 0.8886s
 6.  Marco Andretti     Andretti Green  1m17.6407s  + 2.1062s
 7.  Dan Wheldon        Panther         1m18.7151s  + 3.1806s
 8.  Alex Tagliani      Conquest        1m19.0475s  + 3.513 s
 9.  Ryan Briscoe       Penske          1m19.1080s  + 3.5735s
10.  Ryan Hunter-Reay   Foyt            1m19.1929s  + 3.6584s
11.  Richard Antinucci  3G              1m19.5449s  + 4.0104s
12.  Will Power         Penske          1m19.9812s  + 4.4467s
13.  Ed Carpenter       Vision          1m22.7149s  + 7.1804s
14.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi         1m23.8799s  + 8.3454s
15.  Justin Wilson      Coyne           1m27.4314s  + 11.8969s
16.  Dario Franchitti   Ganassi         1m39.3550s  + 23.8205s
17.  Raphael Matos      Luczo Dragon    1m46.4004s  + 30.8659s