Joost Luiten wasted little time eradicating the overnight advantage of Tom Lewis as the second round of the Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity began in Austria.
The Dutchman was two behind Lewis after the opening round, but set off with four birdies and two bogeys in his first ten holes to join the Englishman on nine under par.
Former amateur star Lewis, who won in Portugal on his third professional start but has not had a top-ten finish in a strokeplay event since, followed his sparkling opening 63 with two birdies and two bogeys in his first six holes to remain level par for the day.
Lewis’ compatriot Paul Waring, plagued by injury problems in recent years, was only one behind after turning in a three under par 33.
Waring, who enjoyed the first top five finish of his European Tour career in the Open de España in April, picked up further shots at the 11th and 12th.
That briefly took him into the outright lead on ten under par, but Luiten soon joined him on that mark by making amends for missing from four feet on the third - his approach having almost pitched into the hole - with a birdie from even closer range on the fourth.
Lewis, who shot to fame with the lowest round by an amateur in Open Championship history (65) to share the lead after the opening round at Sandwich in 2011, was now three off the lead after bogeys at the seventh and 10th dropped him to seven under par.
South African Hennie Otto was alongside him after compiling a seven under par 65.
“You can never be unhappy with a 65,” said the two-time European Tour winner. “I’ve been playing well the last couple of weeks but the scoring hasn’t shown it. I knew it was going to come through sooner or later. Yesterday I played well but didn’t hole a lot of putts; today I did the same thing except I hit it a little closer and holed more putts.
“There’s always one or two missed chance you think about, but I’m happy. I’ve worked hard the last few weeks and hopefully I’ll still be up there at the end of the day.
“I took six weeks off earlier in the season and it’s always a bit tricky coming back from that, but I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.”
