Patrick battling for USF1 drive

Danica Patrick is battling to secure a race drive with Team USF1 for 2010, as the outfit prepares for its first year in Formula 1.

The IndyCar Series racer faces plenty of competition for one of the two race drives with the new team, but she seems to be a strong position.

“We’re getting near to the point where we start looking at drivers, and Danica is on our list for sure, because she’s the best-placed American in the leading single-seater championship of the United States," Team USF1’s sporting director, Peter Windsor, told GPWeek. “She’s doing a really great job.

“There are some other great drivers out there: Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Jonathan Summerton… the list goes on. There are some really good guys and we’ve got to start focusing on that.

“It’s not going to be easy for us but we do have an opportunity to give a young American a chance that they would never have had in a million years with any other F1 team."