Indianapolis - French racer Tristan Vautier was named on Friday to replace Colombian Carlos Huertas in Sunday's 99th Indianapolis 500 after doctors ruled out the South American due to an inner ear condition.
Vautier, who finished fifth in the 2013 Indy 500, had qualified a car for Australian James Davison, who competed in a Canadian sports car event last weekend that conflicted with Indy 500 qualifying.
That had been expected to end the Frenchman's month at the 2.5-mile (4km) oval, but he became a last-minute substitute after IndyCar medical consultant Terry Trammell ruled Friday morning that Huertas would be unable to take the track this weekend and would need more evaluation before returning to future IndyCar events.
That opened the door for Vautier to jump into the Honda-powered car that Huertas had qualified 18th overall, one the outside of row six in the original starting grid.
But driver switches have dropped three cars into the back row for the race, Vautier joining Davison and Aussie Ryan Briscoe, a replacement for crash-injured Canadian James Hinchcliffe.
Revised starting grid for Sunday's Indianapolis 500:
1. Scott Dixon (NZL) Dallara-Chevrolet 226.760 mph (364.93 Km/h)
2. Will Power (AUS) Dallara-Chevrolet 226.350
3. Simon Pagenaud (FRA) Dallara-Chevrolet 226.145
4. Tony Kanaan (BRA) Dallara-Chevrolet 225.503
5. Helio Castroneves (BRA) Dallara-Chevrolet 225.502
6. Justin Wilson (GBR) Dallara-Honda 225.279
7. Sebastien Bourdais (FRA) Dallara-Chevrolet 225.193
8. Marco Andretti (USA) Dallara-Honda 225.189
9. Josef Newgarden (USA) Dallara-Chevrolet 225.187
10. J.R. Hildebrand (USA) Dallara-Chevrolet 225.099
11. Carlos Munoz (COL) Dallara-Honda 225.042
12. Ed Carpenter (USA) Dallara-Chevrolet 224.883
13. Oriol Servia (ESP) Dallara-Honda 224.777
14. Charlie Kimball (USA) Dallara-Chevrolet 224.743
15. Juan Pablo Montoya (COL) Dallara-Chevrolet 224.657
16. Ryan Hunter-Reay (USA) Dallara-Honda 224.438
17. Graham Rahal (USA) Dallara-Honda 224.290
18. Simona de Silvestro (SUI) Dallara-Honda 223.838
19. James Jakes (GBR) Dallara-Honda 223.790
20. Alex Tagliani (CAN) Dallara-Honda 223.722
21. Sage Karam (USA) Dallara-Chevrolet 223.595
22. Conor Daly (USA) Dallara-Honda 223.482
23. Townsend Bell (USA) Dallara-Chevrolet 223.447
24. Takuma Sato (JPN) Dallara-Honda 223.226
25. Pippa Mann (GBR) Dallara-Honda 223.104
26. Gabby Chaves (COL) Dallara-Honda 222.916
27. Sebastian Saavedra (COL) Dallara-Chevrolet 222.898
28. Jack Hawksworth (GBR) Dallara-Honda 223.738
29. Stefano Coletti (MON) Dallara-Chevrolet 222.001
30. Bryan Clauson (USA) Dallara-Chevrolet 221.358
31. Ryan Briscoe (AUS) Dallara-Honda 223.519-x
32. Tristan Vautier (FRA) Dallara-Honda 224.233-y
33. James Davison (AUS) Dallara-Honda 223.747-z
x-dropped back after Briscoe named to replace crash-injured James Hinchcliffe (CAN).
y-dropped back after Vautier named to replace Carlos Huertas (COL) due to inner ear condition.
z-dropped back after Davison replaced qualifying driver Vautier, with row order based on current season points.