Alvaro Quiros and Erik van Rooyen were locked together at the top of the leaderboard at the turn on day three of the Trophée Hassan II.
The Spaniard came into the weekend two shots clear of Van Rooyen but the South African turned in 34 to join him in the lead at seven under.
Canadian Austin Connelly, Australian Andrew Dodt, Finn Mikko Ilonen, Frenchman Alexander Levy and Dutchman Joost Luiten were then two shots off the lead.
Van Rooyen finished third on last season's Challenge Tour and has made a good start to life on the European Tour with two top tens so far this season.
Quiros won for the first time in six years at last season's Rocco Forte Open - Verdura, Sicily but has made just three cuts since, although he has shown all the class that has made him a seven-time European Tour winner this week.
A Quiros bogey on the first quickly handed Dodt a share of the lead but the two-time European Tour winner dropped a shot on the second to put the 35 year old back into the lead on his own.
Van Rooyen also bogeyed the first but he hit back with a gain on the next and when he put an approach to three feet on the third, he looked set to share the lead.
Quiros got inside him after just clearing a bunker and getting a fortuitous bounce with both men making gains, but Van Rooyen was soon in a share when he put his approach on the fourth to eight feet.
A three-putt from Dodt on the same hole dropped him to four under and the leading duo were three shots clear of a group of eight players.
Levy had hit a nice approach into the third for a birdie and he followed that with another into the seventh to break out of the pack and get to five under where he was joined by Dodt, who holed a 12-footer on the sixth.
That was soon three back, though, as Quiros holed from four feet for a birdie of his own.
Luiten made an eight-footer on the sixth to add to a birdie on the second and when he holed a long putt on the ninth to turn in 33, he was alongside Dodt and Levy.
Both Quiros and Van Rooyen went a long way right off the seventh tee and had to play out sideways and while the 28 year old played a brilliant third to save par, Quiros could not get up and down and the lead was shared again.
Luiten bogeyed the tenth to drop out of the group in third but he was quickly replaced by Ilonen who was making a big move after bogeying the first, making gains on the fifth, seventh, eighth, 11th, 12th and 14th.
Connelly was another player to have bogeyed the first but birdies on the third and eighth moved him to five under, with Luiten bouncing back from his blemish with another long putt on the 11th.
Jeunghun Wang - the 2016 champion - was at four under alongside South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Swede Joakim Lagergren.
