Ryan Hunter-Reay went fastest with a last-gasp effort in a truncated second practice at Mid-Ohio, following a crash for Justin Wilson in the final minutes of the session.
Wilson ran wide and clipped the tire barrier at Turn 1, bringing his Dreyer & Reinbold car to a halt at Turn 2. He was able to remove the steering wheel from his car, but then slumped back in pain. The Briton had to be extricated by medical teams using a backboard and neckbrace. Wilson's condition remains unclear.
The incident caused a long full-course yellow period, which ended with just four minutes still on the clock – enough time for every driver to manage at least one flying lap. Hunter-Reay was the biggest gainer, setting his fastest lap of 1m08.8057s on his final tour to snatch top spot from Ganassi's Scott Dixon. The Andretti driver had been 10th before his final flyer.
Takuma Sato was another late improver, the KV Racing Technology man moving into third at the expense of last year's polesitter Will Power. Ryan Briscoe edged out championship leader Dario Franchitti in the battle for sixth, with just over one hundredth of a second separating the pair at the finish.
JR Hildebrand and Alex Tagliani also secured themselves top-10 berths with late improvements to seventh and eighth respectively. Friday pacesetter Graham Rahal and Tony Kanaan rounded out the top 10 ahead of Wilson, who was fifth before his accident.
The session had earlier been halted as Sebastian Saavedra span at the final corner, although the young Colombian was able to continue and ended the session 19th fastest.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti 1m08.8057s
2. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1m08.8335s + 0.0278s
3. Takuma Sato KV 1m08.8747s + 0.0690s
4. Will Power Penske 1m08.9419s + 0.1362s
5. Ryan Briscoe Penske 1m09.0556s + 0.2499s
6. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 1m09.0683s + 0.2626s
7. JR Hildebrand Panther 1m09.1655s + 0.3598s
8. Alex Tagliani Sam Schmidt 1m09.3230s + 0.5173s
9. Graham Rahal Ganassi 1m09.3254s + 0.5197s
10. Tony Kanaan KV 1m09.3623s + 0.5566s
11. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold 1m09.4224s + 0.6167s
12. James Hinchcliffe Newman/Haas 1m09.4894s + 0.6837s
13. Helio Castroneves Penske 1m09.5122s + 0.7065s
14. Oriol Servia Newman/Haas 1m09.5316s + 0.7259s
15. Marco Andretti Andretti 1m09.5492s + 0.7435s
16. EJ Viso KV 1m09.6156s + 0.8099s
17. Simona de Silvestro HVM 1m09.7271s + 0.9214s
18. Charlie Kimball Ganassi 1m09.7331s + 0.9274s
19. Sebastian Saavedra Conquest 1m09.7433s + 0.9376s
20. Mike Conway Andretti 1m09.7506s + 0.9449s
21. Danica Patrick Andretti 1m09.7520s + 0.9463s
22. Martin Plowman Sam Schmidt 1m09.9226s + 1.1169s
23. Vitor Meira Foyt 1m10.0676s + 1.2619s
24. Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne 1m10.0760s + 1.2703s
25. James Jakes Dale Coyne 1m10.1987s + 1.3930s
26. Ana Beatriz Dreyer & Reinbold 1m10.6978s + 1.8921s
27. Ed Carpenter Sarah Fisher 1m11.7864s + 2.9807s