Rather than a defensive mindset of protect🅰i🏅ng fourth in the MotoGP World Championship from a close group of riders behind, Johann Zarco heads in to Portimao with his sights set on trying to snatch third from Joan Mir.

That would mean overcoming a sizeable 2♒3-point gap to the 2020 world champion in the space♎ of just two races and maximum of 50-points.

Meanwhile🅺, just behind him, Jack Miller, Marc Marquez (absent this weekend) and Bra🦋d Binder are all within 16-points of the Pramac Ducati rider.

"Things are coming together," Zarco said 🌟on the eve of this weekend's penultimate round. "I think this target to catch the third place will be good. I was in a good position after the summer break but I lost it.

"Lu𒈔ckily, I have moved up a place after Misano. Why not think about the third? [B🏅ut] If I want to catch it, I think I will have to be on the podium or it will be complicated."

Zarco's not the only Ducati rider with his eye on Mir's place on the end of year 'pod♌ium'.

"I can just focus on my own job, trying to do my own thing, which is try to claw back the 26 points to Mir and third in the championship," said Miller. "I still feel like that's a possible feat. Not easy, but in MotoGP these days, anything can happen, so we just need to keep🤪 positive and put ourselves in the right position, and that's the goal."

Zarco meanwhile was leading the world championship after the Qatar season-openers, and remained Fabio Quarไtararo's closes♛t rival from Mugello until the Austrian GP, when he began a five-race slump that saw him score points in just two races.

That included COTA, his first event after arm pump sur🦂gery, but he took his best result since the summer break with fifth at Misano which -combined with Mille🎐r's fall - moved Zarco back to fourth overall.

"I must be happy because at the moment it is the best season I can do. Ju🎃st learn from what I missed after the summer: That’s the thing," Zarco said.

"I’m pretty happy from the last race in Misano. I’ve been getting good confid🍎ence back. The weekend in the rain was great. I was happy to see I could make an improvement and 🤪then in the dry, in the race I was not super-fast but constant enough to finish and get good points.

"So just getting a good result, doing some great overtaking and having a better race t𝕴hen the one before: that’s what brings the happiness on the bꦓike and the confidence.

"At the moment it is positive," he added of the season as a whole. "It seems disappointing - looking at꧑ the championship - because I missed [chances] ꦿand lost second place in the championship, but to still be in with a chance of the third does not mean a bad season."

Indeed, if Zarco can finish this year inside the top six it would be the highest ever MotoGP placing by a Pramac Ducati rider, while a top five would ex♌ceed his own previous championship high, while at Tech3 Yamaha in 2017 and 2018.

The earlier Portimao round in April ♏saw Zarco qualify on the front row but fall while battling for a podium in the race.

Both Zarco and Mir are yet to win a race this season, with Zarco still chasiܫng his first premier-class win - the Frenchman finishing runner-up four times this season alone. Rookie team-mate Jorge Martin took his and 𓆏Pramac's first Ducati MotoGP win in Austria.