England's Marcus Armitage remained two shots ahead at the halfway stage of the FedEx Open de France.
The world number 241 added a 68 to his opening 64 to reach 10 under par and maintain his advantage over Australia’s Min Woo Lee, who was joined in second by Jeff Winther after the Dane shot a superb 63.
Adrien Saddier and Jeong weon Ko led the home challenge in a five-strong group tied for fourth on six under.
Armitage said: "It was a little bit of a battle today. All in all, kept my nose in front, and hopefully we can keep going over the weekend.
"Everyone’s great on the good days, it’s the bad days like that, if you can still shoot a score and keep yourself in it, then you just wait for the good days over the weekend."
A stunning approach to the 10th, his opening hole, and another birdie at the 14th saw Armitage out in 33.
He had to reach double figures three times over, with birdies at the first and third cancelled out by bogeys at the second and fourth before another gain at the sixth saw him finish 10 under.
Conor Purcell improved significantly on his opening 79 by posting a one-over 72, however, the damage was done on Thursday and the Dubliner missed the cut by some distance.
