Indy 500 2017 LIVE: Latest updates from Indianapolis as Fernando Alonso makes his debut

Alonso, whose McLaren-Honda has been completely uncompetitive in the 2017 season so far this year, qualified in fifth last weekend for today’s race, sandwiched between former F1 driver Tauma Sato and 2011 Indy 500 runner-up JR Hildebrand.

Scott Dixon took pole position ahead of Ed Carpenter while defending Indy 500 champion Alexander Rossi completes the three-man front row.

The 33 starters are set to race around the 2.5-mile circuit 200 times to complete the 500-mile race in Indianapolis which starts at 12.19pm local time (5.19pm BST) and is expected to last around three hours.

Keep up with all the latest updates from the race right here.

Indy 500 latest updates

Lap 56: We’ve had a 25-minute delay after that massive smash but we are back racing again.

Lap 55: Pole-sitter Scott Dixon is out! The 36-year-old Australian collided with Jay Howard in a big smash and fortunately both drivers have walked away from crash.

We do have a red flag out though so we’ll pause with Alonso still leading, alternating well with team-mate Rossi as they fuel-save together.

Lap 40: Fernando Alonso LEADS! He’s completed his first pit-stop in IndyCar without any problems and since then, he has been flying after a few changes to tyre pressure.

And after jut 36 laps of his first Indy 500, Alonso lined up team-mate Alexander Rossi into Turn One and slid up the inside the take the lead for the first time.

Lap 20: Will Power, the 2014 IndyCar champion, has slipped back to 11th and is not running quickly. He’s the 16th fastest man on track at the moment.

Alonso missed the jump of acceleration into Turn One at the start which explains his rapid slide backwards but now he’s fighting back.

The Spanish rookie is back up to sixth place and appears to be enjoying the easier overtaking of IndyCar.

Lap 1: Predictably, we are running behind schedule but we have green flag racing!

Alonso has not had a great start and he has already lost five places on lap one. He’s down in 10th.

5.10pm: Can Fernando Alonso actually win this? The bookies have him among the favourites at 6/1 and he would be just the 10th rookie in 101 runnings to win.

Indeed, he himself doesn’t appear convinced he can win.

“I think [the win] is not the main purpose of this adventure now,” Alonso said.

“I want to experience it and I want to live that moment but winning, I know that realistically I have lower chance than some of my opponents.”

4.30pm: We’re less than an hour away from getting underway in Indianapolis and excitement is reaching fever pitch.

The pre-race ceremony is pretty lengthy and includes a number of traditions including the playing of ‘Taps’, the American national anthem, a veteran salute and a flyover from B-52 Bomber.

Drivers will be told to start their engines at 5.14pm UK time with the race scheduled to get underway seven minutes later.