Danny Willett finally overhauled long-time leader Oskar Henningsson to move into top spot heading into the closing 36 holes of the European Tour's qualifying school in Spain.
The Yorkshire rookie, who surged through the field with a 63 during Saturday's third round, posted a 70 today for a 16-under total of 270, enough for a one-stroke lead in the race for the 30 tour cards up for grabs.
Former world amateur number one Willett bounced back from a double bogey at the 10th, where he four-putted from 35 feet, with a birdie on the closing hole lifting him ahead of Henningsson (74).
"It was an up and down one today and the four-putt was not what I wanted but I managed to get my head back on and played really well over the last eight holes," said Willett.
"The target is obviously to finish as high as possible because you want to give yourself as many opportunities to get into tournaments as you can.
"In the nicest possible way, it would be good to win here and then never come back again."
Scotland's Chris Doak improved 84 places from 107th to 23rd with a dazzling nine-under-par 63.
The 30-year-old Scot has already clinched starts in some of the most lucrative events on the 2009 European circuit after winning last month's PGA play-offs at Royal Liverpool, but the Greenock pro is now eyeing a full card.
"I knew I needed to do something just to make the cut so in the circumstances this has to be the best round of my career," he said.
Former Ryder Cup player Peter Baker was one of a host of players left to reflect on damaging conclusions to their rounds which left them outside the cut mark of one over.
Baker had hauled himself into the all-important top 70 but leaked four shots in his last five holes to miss out by three shots.
Sweden's Fredrik Andersson endured an even more calamitous end to his round, dropping seven shots over his last five holes to finish one shot shy of mark.
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