Borja Virto Astudillo moved to the top of the leaderboard on day two of the Trophée Hassan II as the Red Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam once again provided a tough test in Rabat.
The Spaniard added a 70 to his opening 69 to move to five under and share the lead with late starters Francesco Laporta and Adrien Saddier.
It had looked for much of the early afternoon that Zander Lombard would set a testing target heading into the weekend but he dropped three shots in his last three holes to drop a shot off the lead alongside Daniel Im.
Just ten of the morning starters recorded an under par round and with the wind getting up and the rain beginning to fall, it was unlikely the task would be any easier for those with a later tee time.
Virto Astudillo earned his card at the Qualifying School in 2014 but split his time between the European Tour and the Challenge Tour the following season, earning two wins and a third-placed finish on the Road to Oman.
He missed eight of his first nine cuts on the European Tour in 2016 but has made his last five, securing a top ten finish at last week's Volvo China Open, and has brought that form with him to Morocco.
Back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th saw him hit the top of the leaderboard early but he gave those shots back with bogeys on the first and the third. He bounced back with further gains on the fifth and seventh but for a long time it looked like his five under par total would not be enough for the clubhouse lead.
That was because Lombard was making serene progress after a brilliant start saw him birdie the tenth and eagle the 12th as he turned in 34. A putt from the fringe on the first and a spinning approach to the fourth handed him a two-shot lead but ragged form off the tee cost him as he closed out his round.
He managed to save par after finding the trees off the sixth tee but he had to hit a provisional as he dropped a shot on the seventh and a double-bogey on the eighth after another wide drive and three putts dropped him into a share of second with a 70.
Im went one better than that to also sit four under as the joint winner of the 2015 Qualifying School recorded four birdies and a bogey. Gains on the 11th, 15th and fourth had him in a share of the lead and while he dropped a shot on the sixth, he picked it straight back up on the next.
Italian rookie Laporta opened his second round with a birdie while Saddier went one better, eagling the tenth to also move to the top of the leaderboard.
Dean Burmester, Ben Eccles, Tom Lewis, Renato Paratore and Jason Scrivener were all at three under in the early stages of their second rounds.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Nacho Elvira, Scott Henry, Jack Senior and Joshua White were then in the clubhouse three shots off the lead.
