Grégory Havret held a one-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Trophée Hassan II after posting a second successive 70 on Friday.
The Frenchman, who won the last of his three European Tour titles in 2008, carded an eagle, four birdies and three bogeys on Friday to get to six under par.
Dane Lucas Bjerregaard and South African Trevor Fisher Jnr were another stroke back on five under, one shot clear of Paul Dunne, James Morrison and Grégory Bourdy in joint fourth.
It had looked as though Havret would be heading into the clubhouse with more of a cushion as he was eight under at the 17th tee but back-to-back bogeys at the 17th and 18th saw him slip back.
The 40 year old began the day in a four-way tie at the top alongside Morrison, Bjerregaard and Gary Stal on three under par.
After starting his second round with five straight pars, Havret picked up his first shot of the day at the sixth before making another gain at the seventh to get to five under.
He made a stunning start to the back nine, notching a birdie at the 11th before firing a superb eagle at the next.
Havret carded a bogey at the 13th but he converted his three-foot birdie putt at the 15th to get back to eight under.
After getting into trouble at the 17th, Havret had to settle for a bogey four and he dropped another shot at the last to finish the day on six under.
After his round he said: "It's always a bit of a shame to finish like this - bogey, bogey. It's obviously not the best but the rest was pretty good.
"This course is tough so you can't avoid mistakes all day long.
"So far, so good. I'm quite happy with the way it's been. I know more than anybody probably that the road is still long.
"But I'm obviously very happy, I'm playing well, I love this course, I love this place and I'm loving this country. And I feel good."
Bjerregaard, starting at the tenth tee, made birdies at the tenth and 12th before dropping his first shot of the day at the 15th.
I’m in good shape and I’m feeling good about my game, I'm looking forward to the weekend - Lucas Bjerregaard
He then picked up another shot at the 18th before safely parring the first four holes of his back nine.
A tap-in birdie at the fifth took him to the top of the leaderboard alongside Havret but he carded a bogey at the next to fall back to five under.
Bjerregaard is looking forward to the weekend. He said: "It’s a good position to be in.
"As I said yesterday, after five weeks off it's nice to come out and play well and it's nice to play well today, to see yesterday wasn’t just a one off.
"I’m in good shape and I’m feeling good about my game, I'm looking forward to the weekend."
Beginning his round at the tenth tee on Friday afternoon, Fisher Jnr flew out of the blocks, making three birdies in his first six holes before a double bogey at the 16th and a bogey at the next threatened to derail his round.
But he bounced back with birdies at the fourth, fifth and eighth to get to within a single shot of the lead.
"All in all I just fought, I knew it was going to be a tough day out there so I just fought hard and tried to make pars and then made some birdies and finished three under, which was really good," said Fisher Jnr.
"It's going to be a nice weekend, it'll be a good test. If I can try and find some good feelings I'll have a good chance at the end of the week.
"I'll be fighting and we'll see what happens on Sunday, hopefully I can do something special."
Dunne came into the day three shots behind the co-leaders after Thursday's 73 and was one under at the turn courtesy of a birdie at the second.
The Irishman caught fire on the back nine, following up an eagle at the tenth with birdies at the 11th, 12th and 15th to get to six under.
But Dunne carded back-to-back bogeys at the 16th and 17th before closing his round with a par for a 69.
Frenchman Bourdy reached the turn in 36 after carding two birdies and two bogeys on his front nine.
But he made two further gains on the back nine to produce a second consecutive 71.
Morrison, meanwhile, carded six birdies and five bogeys in his 72.
