Less than a week on from her maiden IndyCar Series victory at Twin Ring Motegi, Danica Patrick admits that she is harbouring hopes of being able to challenge for this year's overall title.
The Andretti Green Racing star insists that, having shaken off the burden of getting that first win under her belt, she will be able to approach future races with greater belief, even if observers claim that she may have capitalised on the best chance of taking the chequered flag.
"I don't think any pressure is going to compare to what it was like to get a win in and have that forever," she commented, "It's nice to do that, and it's nice to not have to answer any questions about [not having won], about when and how and why hasn't it [happened].
"The attitude now is that we'll start thinking championship. It's not that I haven't been, but it's even more realistic now with having a win and, in turn, hopefully more will come - and come more easily. They always say that the first one is the hardest one to get.
"I think that I've always thought that I was somebody that could compete for a championship, because I'm a consistent driver, and, hopefully, I'm smart out there. But, what
I had not done was win races, and it really does take wins to win championships."
Patrick's victory has raised her profile even further than it had already been by being a female competing in a largely male world, and she has found herself very much in demand since taking the chequer at Motegi.
After the celebrations in Japan, she was flown straight back to Long Beach, where the Champ Car contingent in the IRL was staging one last race for the Champ Car series' Panoz DP01. While the time frames worked out, even though the Motegi race was rescheduled to Sunday morning after a rain delay, and Patrick and several other IRL drivers flew commercially to California, a series spokesman said that, if any other driver had won in Japan, such an effort would not have been made.
![Danica Patrick - Andretti Green Racing [pic credit: IRL/Garrett]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/430052.jpg)
