Austrian Martin Wiegele drew level with overnight leader Jamie Elson of England at the midway stage of the last round of the Saint-Omer Open presented by Neuflize OBC.
Wiegele, joint first round leader, shared fourth overnight with Dane Mark F Haastrup, but picked up three birdies on the front nine today at the first, second and ninth to go seven under.
The 31 year old is yet to win a European Tour event, his previous best finish being second in the 2003 Russian Open - his first on the European Tour.
Elson was level par for today after shooting three birdies and three bogeys on his front nine at Aa Saint Omer Golf Club. He dropped shots at three, four and eight but made them up at six, seven and nine.
Another Englishman, Matt Haines, was one further back, one ahead of home favourite Raphaël Jacquelin.
Elson said: "It's the old cliché - you've just got to take one shot at a time.
"I've been hitting it really well, so I've just got to try to stay positive and not do anything differently."
He recognised the player who deals best with the wind is likely to be victorious later today.
"The general direction of the wind has been fairly consistent, you just have to be very clever in realising where the wind is sheltered by the trees," he added.
"It tends to come through the gaps in the trees, so you've got to be very careful. It does swirl in places, but there's not much you can do about it."
