Thiago Medeiros became the 33rd and final qualifier for the 90th running of the Indianapolis 500 Sunday, the Brazilian IndyCar Series rookie bouncing back from a crash in practice on Friday to claim the final spot on the starting grid with a four-lap average speed of 215.719 mph.

Two crashes interrupted what otherwise was a day of practice activities at the “Brickyard” as drivers and teams took advantage of good weather conditions to work on their race preparations. Pole qualifier Sam Hornish Jr. spun and crashed in Turn One just after 3 p.m. today. Hornish was uninjured in the crash and the car he was driving at the time was his backup machine, so he will still lead the field to the green flag in next weekend’s race.

Third-year ‘500’ driver Marty Roth, who had yet to make a qualifying run this year, also crashed in the first turn, with less than an hour remaining in the day’s activities. He also escaped apparent injury, but will miss this year’s race as a result of the accident.

Activities at Indianapolis Motor Speedway continue on Friday with the traditional final practice session, known as “Carb Day”. The 2006 Indianapolis 500 starts at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 28, with live television coverage on ABC.

Robert Clarke (President, Honda Performance Development) on Honda powering the entire 33-car Indy 500 starting field:
“We’ve accomplished our first major step in supplying the entire field at Indianapolis, qualifying 33 cars and drivers. I’d like to thank all of our associates at HPD and our technical partners at Ilmor for all their efforts in making this program run so smoothly. Now we’re looking forward to the second half of our mission: a successful and safe race day next Sunday.”