Wheldon worried about weather

Dan Wheldon fears rain could hamper his defence of the Indianapolis 500 crown after practice was cut short today.

The Englishman, who drives for Ganassi Racing, was second-fastest on day two of practice before rain cut short his efforts two and a half hours early.

Wheldon expects bad weather to be a feature of the month in the run up to qualifying on May 20, putting him under pressure to perfect his car in double quick time.

The Emberton-born driver said: “The team was working very hard in utilising the track time as best we possibly can because of the weather.

“We think the weather could set in a lot before qualifying so that the amount of track time we will get is very limited. We definitely improved the car but it’s a long month and a lot of stuff could still happen.”

Scotsman Dario Franchitti recovered from his minor accident on day one to set the ninth fastest time for Andretti Green and he too hopes the rain holds off to give him time to improve.

He said: “As far as our position on the time charts is concerned, the car was definitely better than on Tuesday.

“Hopefully, we can keep doing that the next two days if the weather breaks, and we will see what we can do Saturday.”

Penske driver Sam Hornish continued his good form by setting the fastest time again.