Johann Zarco strengthened his case for a future MotoGP return with an impressiꦍve 💮second weekend at LCR Honda.

14th on the grid and 13th at the flag on his debut fo🧜r the team in place of the injured Takaaki Nakaga😼mi at Phillip Island, the Frenchman took further strides forward at Sepang.

Tenth after Freඣe Practice 3 put the former factory KTM rider straight through to Qualifying 2, where he snared ninth on the grid.

Zarco seemed to be setting a lofty goal when he spoke of a top seven target on the eve of the Malaysian wee🥃kend, explaining it's ﷽the kind of result needed to show "I can be with the top guys".

Butꦚ it would prove realistic and on Sunday evening he declared: "A huge ღstep done. I'm back on the reality of top riding, and I like this."

While Zarco spent much of the race in ninth, he was directly behind countryman and pole starter Fabio Quartararo and felt he might have had "the capacity" to join the Petr🌟onas Yamaha rider in hunting down Fran꧅co Morbidelli for sixth.

But while Quartararo was able to pass Jack Miller and then close in on his team-mate, Zarco struggled to clea𓆉r the Pramac Ducati and a subsequent tangle wit𓆏h Joan Mir ended his race four laps early.

꧟"The race was good, 𒁏and I was also - not controlling the pace, because we are all at the limit, also with the heat we feel physically that it's not easy - but I was with the good pace and I was happy about this," said Zarco, who was the second-best Honda after Marc Marquez until his late exit.

Zarco admitted that the prospec𝐆t of being able to fight with rookie star and six-t🌜ime podium finisher Quartararo was a tempting prize.

"I🐓 saw Fabio ahead, and this was a good motivation between French riders, to be close toꦿ him. And I wanted to fight with him, why not?" smiled Zarco, who took podiums and poles during his own debut season on a satellite Yamaha, at Tech3 in 2017.

"But I lost a little bit of time behind Jack, wh𓄧ile when Fabio overtook him,𓃲 he went away immediately and almost caught Morbidelli.

"Maybe I had this capacity, but again, I hadಞ to overtake Jack. I did it a few times but then he would go inside again, he was strong on braking. We were losing time and three laps to the end, the guys behind had closed in on us.

"I tried to overtake Jack again, to pass him and go away, so&ꦚnbsp; I can save this eighth position, that would be very correct. But Joan came even more inside and a bit too fast and he totally came across in front of the handlebar. He touched me quite strongly, and I could not do anything."

The Suzuki roo♔kie received a Long Lap penalty for the clash.

Zarco shrugged off the Mir incident and was more interested in having halved the gap to the top, arou🍃nd a much longer circui🔯t than Phillip Island.

"N🔯ot a big drama, I'm not playing for anything in the championship, and for me the most important thing is that with a good work, I am catching back the real pace from the top guys, and this is the main thing for me.

"In Australia, I finished 26 seconds away from the top, which means 1 second a lap on a small trꦛack. For me this was a lot, but I h🐠ad to learn things.

"Here if I could finish the race I was around 15 seconds f꧒rom the top,🀅 so it means almost half the gap and on a bigger track.

"So a huge step done. I'm back on the reality of top ri𝔍d🐷ing, and I like this."

Zarco, who still has no confirme🔯d plans for 2020, now has one more LCR appearance to make in the Valencia season finale.

"Now I just need everything to become more automatic on the bike. I'm still riding thinking about what I have to do, an♔d when all these things come naturally in the body - boom! - I will have another step done, because it means I will be able to focus on other things.

"I could be even more precise, because it takes a lot of energy to♏ 'split' everything while you are riding. It's still been going well, but I must do this automatically, 🎐like Marc is doing, and then I will make another step.

"We will work to go straight into Q2 agꦇain at Valencia and if I can repeat this race, with a top seven, I think that will be good."

Nakagami ꦬhas t꧟aken a best finish of fifth on the 2018-spec Honda this season. 

Cal Crutchlow, riding LCR's 2019 machine, fell from eleventh plac🍬e.

"Cal was very fast in qualifying. I did not have the 🔯target to be in front of him, but all the riders 🧸that I can be in front of, it's better for me," Zarco said.

Marquez's struggling team-mate Jorge Lorenzo finished 22s behind Zarco, in 14th place. Honda and Lorenzo insist they have no plans to 𝔍seek🌠 an early end to their agreement, but Zarco's form is sure to have been noted.

HRC team manager Alberto Puig was seen in the LCR garage keeping a close eye on Zarco during the Sepang weekend, while Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta was among those to congratulate the #5 on hi꧂s performance after 🥀the Sepang race.