Tony Kanaan powers to win in second Iowa qualifying heat

Tony Kanaan stormed past Alex Tagliani with nine laps remaining to win second of the third qualifying heats that will set the starting grid for tomorrow’s IZOD Indy Car Series Iowa Corn Indy 250.

But like the first of the three heats, won by Graham Rahal, the race winner will not start in the fifth row as the rules determined, but will start deeper in the pack owing to a 10-spot grid penalty for an engine change.

“It doesn’t count, we’re still going to get a penalty but it feels good,” Kanaan said. “I think we are looking pretty good for tomorrow, but we are going to have some work to do.”

Kanaan’s KV Racing teammate Rubens Barrichello paced the first five laps of the heat from pole before yielding to Tagliani, who held the point for the next 15 trips around the .875-mile Iowa Speedway.

Kanaan stalked Tagliani for the middle part of the race before setting him up and making the pass on the 21st of the 30 laps that made up the second heat.

Tagliani finished second ahead of Barrichello while Justin Wilson and Charlie Kimball rounded out the top five. Katherine Legge and James Jakes finished sixth and seventh respectively while Simona deSilvestro and Simon Pagenaud finished a lap down in eighth and ninth.