Ingram is joined by Edmondson for Estonia

Chris Ingram will look to defend his European Rally Championship Junior category lead in Estonia with a new co-driver.

Ingram is joined by Elliott Edmondson, who has spent this year sat with Neil Simpson in the British Rally Championship. However, Simpson has had to miss the last two rounds through work commitments.

“I’ve done a few things in the ERC before, I’ve done the Circuit of Ireland this year and in the Juniors last year,” said 21-year-old Edmondson. “It’s a much bigger step up moving into the Opel team and hopefully if it goes well we can prepare some sort of partnership.”

The deal is in place for just the one round but has the potential to be extended further.

“There was something missing in the car so I’ve decided to go with a locally based co-driver,” said Ingram, who competed with Katrin Becker on the earlier ERC rounds. “We only turned up to the event and we were expected to win, which was difficult [without more preparation]. No disrespect to her as she’s a great co-driver.

“He’s a similar age to me but despite that age he’s got a lot of experience. He’s a really positive and confident character.”

Ingram leads team-mate Marijan Griebel by 15 points.