Jones tops shortened third day of practice

Ed Jones ended the third day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 on top of the charts, clocking a top speed of 227.843 mph.

The British-Emirati driver ended the day ahead of 2017 winner Takuma Sato, while Zack Veach showed encouraging pace to end up in third place.

The day's running came to an end 90 minutes before the scheduled finish, as a weather warning was released in the area.

In the minutes following the yellow that was deployed, the track became severely dark and lighting was reported 8 miles from the circuit. 

Despite the shortened day, drivers, for the most part, seemed pleased with the running they managed during the session.

No running for McLaren

After he suffered from a big crash during practice on Wednesday, Fernando Alonso failed to take to the track on Thursday, with McLaren now under pressure heading into Fast Friday - the day before qualifying.

Alonso's car was heavily damaged in the crash and the team had to revert to an older chassis, but was still not able to get everything ready to send the Spaniard out.

O'Ward has a big crash

One driver succumbed to the walls during the session, as rookie Patricio O'Ward hit the barrier and got airborne, and was lucky not to roll over entirely.
 

O'Ward was able to step out of the car and walk away from the incident, but had his running limited due to the major impact.

It marks the third time in two days that a rookie has had an incident, as Felix Rosenqvist and Colton Herta also having accidents, although Herta stayed out of the walls. 

Rosenqvist seemed to struggle during the day, ending 34th in the standings ahead of rookie Santino Ferrucci.