INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana : New Zealand's Scott Dixon led the rain-shortened practice session for the 92nd Indianapolis 500 here Friday on the eve of pole qualifying for the May 25 race.

Dixon set the pace by circling the 2.5-mile (4km) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in 39.6531 seconds at 226.968 mph (263.148 k/hr) with the fastest lap seen since practice began Sunday for rookies and Tuesday for all teams.

Marco Andretti, the grandson of US legend Mario Andretti, was next at 226.710 mph followed in order by Brazil's Tony Kanaan, Australian Ryan Briscoe, Japan's Hideki Mutoh and England's Dan Wheldon on Friday's speed chart.

Rain washed out Wednesday and Thursday practice sessions and halted Friday's session more than three hours early, leaving teams minimal preparation time for the time trials showdown Saturday.

After two hours of morning practice, Saturday's pole qualifying is set to open at noon with cars having six hours to run at the pole. If faster times are posted after the first day, those cars are slotted deeper in the 33-car field.

England's Alex Lloyd struck the outer wall Friday in the second incident of the week. He was sent for medical treatment complaining of neck and back pain.

Danica Patrick, the US racer who last month in Japan became the first woman to win a major closed-course racing series event, struck a crewman from another team in the pit area but he escaped with a concussion, cuts and bruises.

Patrick ranked eighth on the day's and week's speed list, just ahead of South African Tomas Scheckter.

- AFP /ls