Felipe Aguilar set the clubhouse target on day two of the Volvo China Open as he fired a 65 on another morning of low scoring at Topwin Golf and Country Club.
The Chilean was bogey-free and came home in 31 to get to 11 under and overtake Alex Noren and Bernd Wiesberger, who had set the early target after reeling in overnight leader Hennie Otto.
South African Otto had come into the second day with a two-shot lead after a brilliant opening 63 and that score was almost matched in round two by South Korean Tae-hoon Kim, who recorded the second hole-in-one of the week on his way to a 64.
That was good enough to put him at nine under alongside Lucas Bjerregaard and Tyrrell Hatton on a congested leaderboard.
Aguilar turned in 34 after gains on the fourth and eighth but came to life after the turn as he picked up further shots on the tenth, 11th, 14th, 16th and 18th.
Swede Noren was unblemished in a second consecutive 67, recording birdies on the 13th, 15th, first, third and sixth to become the first man to move past Otto, but he would soon have company at the top.
Wiesberger was delighted with his opening 65 in the windier conditions on Thursday afternoon and followed that with a 69. The Austrian turned in level par 36 after starting on the tenth and back-to-back birdies on the fifth and sixth added to a gain on the first.
Kim had also got himself into double figures with a remarkable run of scoring on the back nine before a bogey on the 17th dropped him back. Birdies on the fifth, seventh and eighth saw him turn in 33 before he added two more gains on the tenth and 12th.
An 18th ace of the season - and second of the week after Rikard Karlberg's on the 16th on Thursday - on the 177-yard 13th catapulted him up the leaderboard and he shared the lead after birdies at the 15th and 16th before his late blemish.
I played well and after I got the hole-in-one I became really confident and finished really well - Tae-hoon Kim
"It was about 165 metres but the view from the tee, we couldn't see the hole, only the top of the flag. I was aiming a little to the left of the pin and I just hit a seven iron, it was a beautiful shot and the galleries beside the green shouted out so that's how I knew."
Dane Bjerregaard was bogey-free as he signed for a 67, with England's Hatton registering two bogeys and seven birdies on his way to the same score.
Otto was then also at nine under after six holes with a dropped shot on the second picked straight back up on the next.
German Maximillian Kieffer recorded a 66 to sit at eight under, with home favourite Li Haotong in the clubhouse at the same mark after a 67.
Scot Gary Boyd, big-hitting Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts, Spaniard Jorge Campillo, France's Alexander Levy and Dane Thorbjørn Olesen were then all a further shot back.
