Patrick targets maiden win in 2006

Patrick's became a household name last season when she became the first women to lead the Indianapolis 500, which led to several promotional deals and magazine covers.

However, Patrick's critics felt that the level of hype surrounding her was not backed-up by her results because she never finished on the podium. Her best finishes were a brace of fourth places at Motegi and Indianapolis.

Patrick says she is aiming to run at the front consistently this season and that a race victory will be the only result that she will be satisfied with at the end of her second year in the sport.

"I would hope I'm more consistently in the front," Patrick said. "That should be the goal. That's when that win will come. You have to be at the right place at the right time.

"But, you know, ultimately I'd like to just make sure I run in the front all the time. I'd like to run a bit stronger on all of the road courses. If that happens and I do run in the front consistently all year I can win a race.

"I'd love to win a bunch of races, but I probably would walk away from the season happy if I could win a race.

"That's probably the most specific goal I've ever given."

Patrick would not be drawn on which track that victory would most likely come at, but said she is hoping it would be as soon as possible.

"If I put money on one of the tracks for me to win, that's where all the hype would go," she added. "That's not good. It will happen when it happens naturally. I hope it's sooner than later.

"Shoot, I hope it's at Homestead. We don't know. You don't know. I don't know. There's many tracks that I enjoy."