Alvaro Quiros stormed into the clubhouse lead at the halfway mark of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic with a stunning 64 at the Emirates Golf Club.
The Spaniard has not been in the winner's circle since victory at the Rocco Forte Open - Vendura, Sicily in May 2017 but put himself in pole position to end that drought with an eight-under-par second round.
Quiros, a seven-time European Tour winner, sits at the top of the leaderboard at 11 under, one shot ahead of qualifier Callum Shinkwin after the Englishman shot three under par in his second round.
Overnight leader Matthew Fitzpatrick, who led for majority of the second round until he carded a double-bogey at the seventh - his 16th, was at nine under alongside Paraguay's Fabrizio Zanotti and Frenchman Romain Langasque.
Spaniard Jorge Campillo, Jordan Smith and Australian Wade Ormsby were in the clubhouse at eight under alongside Thomas Detry, while Matthieu Pavon joined them after starting with two birdies from his first five holes on Friday.
Quiros began his round with a bogey but immediately hit back with successive gains before picking up another shot at the fifth and a superb eagle two at the eighth to turn in 31.
The 36 year old gained another shot at the 14th before finishing his round with a trio of birdies - to his delight.
"I have been working a lot (on my putting) with José María (Olazábal) Ole, and with my coach and it looks like it's paying off," Quiros said. "Last week I was putting nicely too and with these greens it is key.
"I found out the sand can be very heavy and unfortunately it was an unlucky lie (at the first) and from there onwards I have been playing nicely, holing putts and have been lucky sometimes."
Fitzpatrick picked up where he left off with a blemish-free back nine, after starting on the tenth, to move into the lead at ten-under-par following three gains, but was soon joined by Belgian Detry who had a birdie blitz of his own - picking up six shots on his first nine holes.
Detry briefly took sole lead with his seventh gain at the first, only for Fitzpatrick to join him at the top when he birdied the third and when the Belgian recorded his first bogey of the tournament at the fourth following a wayward tee and short chip, the Yorkshireman was in the lead on his own.
Detry then made it three successive bogeys to tail away but Fitzpatrick missed chances to extend his lead before finding water with his tee to the seventh and lipped out his bogey putt to hand Quiros the initiative.
Shinkwin only qualified for the event earlier in the week after the 25 year old secured one of three available spots in the field by winning a 36-hole shootout and he took his opportunity to take sole second.
The Englishman carded birdies at the third and fifth to make an early move to eight under but gave them shots back at the sixth and ninth. However, gains at the 10th, 12th, 13th and the last pushed him up to third before Fitzpatrick's late drop down the leaderboard.
