Matthieu Pavon was eager to maintain momentum after a big finish saw him keep hold of the lead heading into the weekend at the acciona Open de España presented by Madrid.
The Frenchman started 64-68 12 months ago at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid en route to a runner-up finish and has gone 63-68 this week to lead the way at 11 under.
For a long time it looked like Pavon would surrender his one-shot overnight cushion on day two but he birdied four of his last six holes to maintain that slender advantage over Dutchman Wil Besseling and India's Shubhankar Sharma.
Home favourite Alfredo Garcia-Heredia was then at nine under alongside Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera, one shot clear of England's Nathan Kimsey, with 11 players four shots off the lead.
Pavon is no stranger to being in contention at the right end of a leaderboard, with two wins on the Alps Tour and three second-place finishes on each of the European Challenge and DP World Tours.
This is the second time this season he has led after both 18 and 36 holes, having done the same at the DS Automobiles Italian Open before fading away at the weekend, and he knows the importance of keeping his foot on the gas as he seeks a maiden DP World Tour win.
"I'll just stick to my plan," he said. "You can have a lot of opportunities out here, it's just about staying patient and waiting for some putts to drop and then trying to catch the good momentum on the par fives.
"It looks like it's really a place that suits my game. I have a lot of memories from last year so I really feel comfortable on the course. I see shots quickly with the yardages I've got.
"Today was a strange day, it could have been much better had I started stronger but it could have been worse also so I'm very pleased with the round today.
"I know that I'm putting great this week and that I would have a couple of chances on my back nine because there are two par fives.
"I just tried to stay patient and just wait for one putt to drop and that is what happened - I dropped a putt on the second for par and all of a sudden everything clicked in a little bit and I had some momentum."
Pavon started his round with seven pars from the tenth and when he flew the green at the par-three 17th to turn in 36, it looked like it would not be his day.
But that seven-footer on the second to save par after finding sand spurred the 30-year-old into action and he got up and down from the sand again at the par-five fourth for a birdie and holed from 23 feet on the sixth.
A lovely approach to five feet at the eighth then had him back in a share of the lead before he put his tee-shot to similar range on the par-three next and reclaimed top spot on his own.
Besseling is in need of a strong finish to the season to keep his playing privileges and he sandwiched a two-putt birdie on the par-five seventh with excellent approaches into the fifth and 12th to get to double figures.
A bogey at the 16th threatened to derail his progress but he made an excellent up-and-down on the last to sign for a 68.
Sharma bogeyed the third but a sand save on the fourth and approaches inside 15 feet on the fifth and eighth saw him turn in 34.
A second bogey of the day on the tenth was followed by an excellent tee-shot on the par-three 11th and he holed from long-range on the 13th, made the most of the par-five 14th and hit a smart approach into the last in a second consecutive 66.
Garcia-Heredia was bogey-free in an excellent 64, while Lorenzo-Vera had a roller coaster of a 68 with an eagle, four birdies and three bogeys.
Kimsey also had an eagle, four birdies and three bogeys in a 68 of his own to sit a shot ahead of France's Julien Guerrier, who carded the lowest round of the day with a 63.
Guerrier's fellow Frenchmen Romain Langasque and Antoine Rozner, local favourite Alejandro del Rey, Scot Grant Forrest, Italian Edoardo Molinari, England's John Parry and Eddie Pepperell, German Marcel Siem, Dane Martin Simonsen and Paraguayan Fabrizio Zanotti were also seven under.
