Richard Finch hopes he can produce another winning performance at the Volvo China Open this weekend and move himself closer to realising his goal of qualifying for the Majors.
The 30-year-old Yorkshireman carded a three-under-par 69 at the Beijing CBD International Golf Club to take the clubhouse lead midway through his second round.
His chances of retaining that lead diminished as the in-form Michael Lorenzo-Vera moved one-stroke clear at the top of the leaderboard by the close of play after also carding a three-under 69.
But Finch, who secured his maiden title on the European Tour at the New Zealand Open earlier this season, hopes another impressive display this weekend will put him on the road to qualification for the Majors.
"I want to qualify for the Majors," Finch said.
"I haven't qualified for one yet and before you can play in the Ryder Cup you have to be qualifying for those on a regular basis."
Finch bogeyed the first but that proved to be the only blot on his scorecard as he went on to pick up five birdies in the rest of his round, including three successive from the fifth.
But the Hull man believes it is too early to predict how things will shape up when he takes to the course on the final round on Sunday.
"There is a long way to go," Finch added.
"A lot of things can happen, such as the weather which could be a big factor.
"We will have to see what the weather deals us."
His task this weekend will not be easy with European Tour rookie Lorenzo-Vera in superb form over his two rounds.
The 23-year-old Frenchman was overnight leader after carding a five-under-par 67 and he continued his fine form in the second round.
Lorenzo-Vera's lead could have been greater but for a double bogey on the par-four 14th and a bogey on the ninth - his last hole.
But he carded an impressive seven birdies to ensure his place at the top of the leaderboard.
"I always look super relaxed but my hands are always shaking," Lorenzo-Vera said.
"It took nine holes for me to get relaxed."
Alongside Finch in a tie for second is Irishman Damien McGrane, who carded a three-under-par 69.
McGrane endured a frustrating run on the front nine, making par throughout, but things improved after the turn when he carded a birdie on the 10th and then an eagle on the par-five 13th to put himself in contention going into the weekend.
Oliver Wilson made strides up the leaderboard as his impressive six-under-par 66 moved him onto six under overall going into the weekend.
The 27-year-old from Mansfield, who hit a 72 in the first round, carded birdies on the fourth and par-three ninth and added another on the 10th.
He then bogeyed the par-four 14th but that then sparked an impressive run of four successive birdies.
"Everything is going well," Wilson said.
"I have improved every year, having had three second places in the last 12 months and am up there regularly.
"If I can get more consistency with my swing I can be up there every time I play."
Elsewhere defending champion Markus Brier is four shots off the pace after carding a three-under-par 69 while David Howell's hopes of improving on his second place finish at the Portuguese Open look unlikely after carding a 73 to go one-over-par for the tournament.
Collated second round scores & totals in the European Tour Volvo China Open, Beijing CBD International GC, Beijing, China
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
136 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 67 69
137 Damien McGrane 68 69, Richard Finch 68 69
138 Oliver Wilson 72 66
140 Zane Scotland (Gb) 68 72, Markus Brier (Aut) 71 69, Simon Griffiths 68 72, Jason Knutzon (USA) 68 72
141 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 71, Airil Rizman (Mal) 69 72, Joost Luiten (Ned) 68 73, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 73 68
142 Sam Walker 71 71, Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 71 71, Li Chao (Chn) 68 74, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 71 71, Mark Brown (Nzl) 71 71
143 Antonio Lascuna (Phi) 72 71, Todd Vernon (Swi) 71 72, Kangchun Wu (Chn) 70 73, Adam Groom (Aus) 73 70, Simon Wakefield 72 71
144 Scott Strange (Aus) 73 71, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 69 75, Simon Yates 72 72, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 72 72, Miles Tunnicliff 70 74, Wen Teh Lu (Tpe) 73 71
145 Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 76 69, Frankie Minoza (Phi) 73 72, Peter Whiteford 73 72, Graeme McDowell 73 72, David Howell 72 73, Phillip Price 74 71, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 69 76, Rhys Davies 71 74, David Bransdon (Aus) 73 72
146 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 72 74, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 75 71, Ross Fisher 74 72, Stuart Manley 72 74, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 74 72, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 72 74, John Bickerton 70 76, Ross Bain 73 73, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 72 74, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 75 71, Marcus Both (Aus) 73 73, Paul Lawrie 71 75
147 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 75 72, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 73 74, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 71 76, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 75 72, Marcel Siem (Ger) 76 71, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 74 73, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 73 74, Scott Barr (Aus) 73 74, Gavin Flint (Aus) 73 74, Sam Little 74 73, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 71 76
148 Wei Chih Lu (Tha) 75 73, Julio Zapata (Arg) 70 78, David Frost (Rsa) 76 72, Mu Hu (Chn) 74 74, Paul Broadhurst 76 72, Sung Lee (Kor) 73 75, Wei-Huang Wu (Tpe) 73 75, Barry Lane 78 70, Keng-chi Lin (Tai) 75 73
-------------------------following players missed the cut--------------------------
149 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 69 80, Garry Houston 76 73, Scott Hend (Aus) 75 74, Carl Suneson (Spa) 76 73, Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 74 75, Daniel Im (USA) 74 75, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 78 71
150 Martin Wiegele (Aut) 74 76, Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 77 73, David Gleeson (Aus) 76 74, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 75 75, Oliver Fisher 74 76, Gary Simpson (Aus) 74 76, Tony Carolan (Aus) 77 73, Keith Horne (Rsa) 72 78, Zhi-peng Fan (Chn) 74 76, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 74 76
151 Tian Yuan (Chn) 80 71, Wen-Tang Lin (Tai) 73 78, Shun a Wu (Chn) 76 75, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 73 78, Anda Liu (Chn) 72 79, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 78 73, Peter Lawrie 79 72, Iain Pyman 77 74, Ming Jie Huang (Chn) 76 75, Stephen Dodd 75 76, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 73 78, Jong Yul Suk (Kor) 73 78, Angelo Que (Phi) 73 78, Adam Blyth (Aus) 77 74
152 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 75 77, Wen-zhang Yang (Chn) 74 78, Richard Lee (Nzl) 74 78, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 77 75, Steven Tan (Mal) 74 78, Kane Webber (USA) 78 74, Gary Murphy 75 77, Iain Steel (Mal) 72 80, Hao Yuan (Chn) 75 77, Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha) 79 73, Simon Hurd 76 76
153 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 73 80, Bryan Saltus (USA) 76 77, Pedro Linhart (Spa) 76 77, Young-Woo Nam (Kor) 78 75, Unho Park (Aus) 75 78, Simon Khan 74 79
154 Ter-Chang Wang (Tpe) 82 72, Zaw Moe (Kor) 76 78, Andrew Coltart 76 78, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 76 78, Wei-hai Kong (Chn) 73 81, Chris Rodgers 78 76, Anthony Wall 81 73, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 76 78, Gui Ming Liao (Chn) 76 78, Jamie Donaldson 72 82, Lei Shang (Tpe) 78 76
155 Leif Westerberg (Swe) 73 82, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 79 76, Robert Dinwiddie 75 80, Tom Whitehouse 76 79, Ted Oh (Kor) 78 77
156 Anthony Kang (USA) 83 73, Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 74 82, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 76 80, Wen-gen Zheng (Hkg) 79 77, Chi-huang Tsai (Tai) 80 76, Ross McGowan 76 80, Martin Rominger (Swi) 80 76
157 Jian-feng Ye (Chn) 81 76, Artemio-hiromasa Murakami (Phi) 81 76, Danny Chia (Mal) 77 80
158 Shiv Kapur (Ind) 79 79
159 Guo-wu Zhou (Chn) 80 79
160 Xiong-hui Ye (Chn) 84 76
161 Amandeep Johl (Ind) 80 81, Cui Lin Gu (Chn) 76 85,Ben Leong (Mal) 81 80
163 Yong-Huan Huang (Tpe) 86 77, Yong-hong Deng (Chn) 77 86, Digvijay Singh (Ind) 83 80
167 Jian Hou (Chn) 87 80, Xiao-ma Chen (Chn) 82 85, Rong Shen (Chn) 82 85
