Gregorio De Leo thanked caddie Adam Drummond for his lead at the halfway stage of the Turkish Airlines Open in Antalya.
The Italian shot five birdies in a second-round 68 to reach seven under for the tournament, one clear of a four-strong group that includes England's Sam Bairstow.
De Leo then revealed his late arrival in Turkey had prevented him from having a practice round at the course.
"It definitely felt very good. I played very well," De Leo said in an interview on the DP World Tour website.
"I was solid off the tee and my putter really helped me quite a lot.
"It’s kind of tricky because I got here on Wednesday, so I didn’t even have a practice round.
"I didn’t know how the course was playing so I’m really glad that my caddy Adam helped me out.
"He was driving me around the course because I didn’t know anything about it. But it has worked out.
"Low expectations help, but I’m not going to do the same next week."
Bairstow followed up his opening round of 68 with 70 to sit on six under and was joined on that number by Sweden’s Jens Dantorp, Spaniard Alejandro del Rey and Kazuma Kobori.
Sweden's Mikael Lindberg is one shot further back in sixth.
A tournament to forget for Tom McKibbin ended when he missed the cut after labouring to a 75 after an opening 73 to finish on four over.
