Fisher hoping to hook Greek result.

Peugeot's latest WRC recruit Mark Fisher has completed his preparations for the Acropolis Rally, and hopes that the event itself will be as enjoyable as his first taste of Greek rallying.

The 27-year old Ulsterman, along with experienced co-driver Gordon Noble, put the finishing touches to a three-day recce for the gruelling event yesterday [Monday] and, with a day of rest before the rally begins in earnest has been able to reflect on his elevation to the big time after a year of driving a Peugeot 106.

''We have had a very enjoyable recce, with no real problems,'' Fisher revealed, ''We used a rally-prepared 306 - which was similar in size to the 206 WRC - which should be a help. The car had no air conditioning, meaning that we had to acclimatise to the heat, but we are using this as preparation for the rally itself, when we will have to face very high temperatures in the car, under greater pressure.

''It's been a tight schedule to follow but, with our only delay being a puncture on day one, there have been no dramas. It's been a bit dusty, but it's the heat which is our main concern.''

''The stages have been very rough,'' added co-driver Noble, ''So much so that I had to borrow a pillow from our hotel to give me a better surface to lay my pace-note book on, in order to even out the bumps in the car, as I was writing all the notes from scratch. Mark is able to relax today, but I'm still re-writing the notes to ensure they are legible!''

Tomorrow [Wednesday] sees the Irish duo putting the actual 206 WRC which they will use in the rally through its final shakedown, before the rally starts for real on Friday. Thursday is taken up with scrutineering and press conferences, but all eyes are now on the three-day event that lies ahead.