Dario Franchitti will start Saturday night's IZOD IndyCar Series race at Iowa Speedway from pole position after winning the final qualifying heat race at the 7/8th mile oval.
Franchitti's Target Chip Ganassi car started from second on the grid behind Marco Andretti, but passed the Andretti Autosport driver around the outside on lap five to take the lead.
“We were struggling a little bit this morning with the Target car in race trim but we made it much better in the second session of practice," said Franchitti. "But the heat (race) the car stuck and we were able to put the Target car around the outside of Marco, kind of like I watched (Tony Kanaan) do in the heat race before me.
"I got out in front and the car felt good – no troubles for the rest of the run with no real fall off till the end of the race. Physically, it is a tough track so it will be an interesting race for us. Good to be starting up front here for sure.”
Andretti lost another place to Penske's Helio Castroneves a couple of laps later, but the Brazilian was unable to make any dent in Franchitti's lead and settled for second, which is still enough for a front-row grid spot on Saturday. Franchitti's margin of victory was 1.4sec.
"We really wanted to get the pole, but we were a little off on our gearing for the car," said Andretti, who won the race last year from the 17th starting spot, and topped both the first two practice sessions on Friday. "We can work on that; it's really the race that counts. The RC Cola car was fast all day, so we just need to tune on it a little bit to get back out front when it really means something. We can win it from there."
James Hinchcliffe passed the Penske Dallara-Chevroletss of Will Power and Ryan Briscoe to move into fourth early on, but found himself under pressure from Briscoe as the race entered its final laps. Briscoe got close enough to have a look down the inside with five laps to go, but could not make the move stick. The Australian will start alongside compatriot Power on the third row, with Andretti's Ryan Hunter-Reay and Ganassi's Scott Dixon occupying row four.
Tony Kanaan was the big mover in the opening heats, going from fourth place to win heat 2.
Kanaan (KV Racing Technology) passed Dale Coyne's Justin Wilson for third on the first lap, and then waited for the lead battle between polesitter Rubens Barrichello (KV) and Alex Tagliani (Bryan Herta Autosport) to be decided in the Canadian's favour ahead of him before making his next move.
His chance came when Barrichello lost speed immediately after being passed by Tagliani, but while the Formula 1 veteran was unable to prevent Kanaan from passing him, he was able to hold on to finish third.
Earlier, the first 30-lapper was dominated by Ganassi's Graham Rahal, who finished 6.2sec clear of Josef Newgarden (Sarah Fisher Hartman). The cars ran almost the entire race in their starting order before Panther's JR Hildebrand passed EJ Viso (KV) for third with three laps remaining, moving himself one row further up the grid in reward.
The first two heat races determined the grid order from the fifth row back for the main race. But both Kanaan and Rahal are facing 10-place gird penalties for unauthorized engine changes, as is Viso.
Heat one results - 30 laps:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 9m00.6441s
2. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda + 6.2134s
3. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevy + 6.5594s
4. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevy + 7.4531s
5. Oriol Servia Panther/DRR DW12-Chevy + 8.3586s
6. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda + 10.8144s
7. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevy + 13.4036s
8. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda + 18.5671s
Heat two results - 30 laps:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevy 8m59.4932s
2. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Honda + 3.1255s
3. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevy + 6.0818s
4. Justin Wilson Coyne DW12-Honda + 7.9310s
5. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda + 10.0818s
6. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Chevy + 13.7490s
7. James Jakes Coyne DW12-Honda + 14.0032s
8. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus + 1 lap
9. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda + 1 lap
Heat three results - 30 laps:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 9m16.9203s
2. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevy + 1.4671s
3. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevy + 5.1884s
4. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevy + 5.9813s
5. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevy + 6.5813s
6. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevy + 7.3542s
7. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevy + 7.8433s
8. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda + 9.2963s
Starting order:
1. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda
2. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevy
3. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevy
4. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevy
5. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevy
6. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevy
7. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevy
8. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda
9. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevy*
10. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda*
11. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Honda
12. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda
13. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevy
14. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevy
15. Justin Wilson Coyne DW12-Honda
16. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevy*
17. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda
18. Oriol Servia Panther/DRR DW12-Chevy
19. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Chevy
20. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda
21. James Jakes Coyne DW12-Honda
22. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevy
23. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus
24. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda
25. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda*
* Will take 10-place engine change penalty before start