MOTORSPORT: Three Aussies in Indy 500 now

A third Australian has landed a late drive in America's biggest open-wheeler race, the Indianapolis 500.

Ryan Briscoe has been called in as a replacement for Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe, who was badly injured early this week in the latest crash in the lead-up to the 99th running of the classic early next Monday, Australian time.

Briscoe will drive another Honda-powered Dallara car for Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports.

Australia's reigning IndyCar world champion, Queenslander Will Power, has qualified for Team Penske, to start in the middle of the front row of the 33-driver field, alongside the pole-position qualifier, Brisbane-born New Zealander Scott Dixon.

James Davison, from Melbourne, will start at the rear of the field after taking over a Dale Coyne Racing car qualified for him by Frenchman Tristan Vautier.

Briscoe, 33, has made nine previous starts in the Indy 500 but has not driven in any of the IndyCar championship races this year.

He claimed pole position at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – otherwise known as The Brickyard – in 2012 and finished fifth that year. He was also fifth in 2007.

In his previous starts in the event the Americans call "the greatest spectacle in racing" – five of them for Team Penske and three with Chip Ganassi Racing – Briscoe has led 31 laps around the 2.5-mile (4km) superspeedway.

He has been racing Corvette sports cars occasionally this year since losing his regular IndyCar drive with Ganassi after finishing 10th in last year's championship.

Hinchcliffe crashed at The Brickyard after the right front suspension of the car he was driving broke at about 360kmh.

Part of a wishbone pierced his left thigh and he needed more than four hours of surgery to repair soft tissue damage.

There have been several other crashes at the superspeedway this month, with two Chevrolet-powered cars flipping as speeds soared with the introduction of new aerodynamic kits developed with the engine manufacturers.