McLaren Motorsport has added six new drivers to its GT3 Junior roster for 2026, alongside confirmation that multiple UK domestic championship-winning driver Adam Smalley will return.
The new additions are Alessio Deledda, Baptiste Moulin, Lorens Lecertua, Riccardo Cazzaniga, Alejandro Geppert and McKenzy Cresswell. They will be joined by four more drivers who complete the new Talent Pathway initiative with Elite Motorsport.
“This year is set to become one of the biggest yet for McLaren Motorsport. With new teams joining and more cars running in different championships, our factory driver programme is also expanding to meet the requirements of our customer racing teams,” Giorgio Sanna, Head of Motorsport, McLaren Automotive.
“We have remapped our strategy for driver development during the off-season to ensure we have a strong pipeline of potential future McLaren factory drivers through GT3 Junior, McLaren Trophy Academy, and the Talent Pathway categories. We’re very excited to see how these young athletes progress over the course of the season.”
Smalley was a race winner in GT World Challenge last season, sharing the Garage 59 Gold Cup entry with fellow GT3 Junior driver Louis Prette and factory driver Dean Macdonald, where they claimed victory in the season finale at Barcelona. This follows his British GT Silver Cup championship success in 2024.
Belgian racer Lorens Lecertua is the first of the six new members. The 19-year-old has already been a Silver Cup class winner in GT World Challenge Europe and will be looking build on that with CSA this year. He will be joined in the #555 entry by Baptiste Moulin, also from Belgium, who won the 2022 Italian GT championship.
Italian Alessio Deledda, who has DTM experience, will also form part of the CSA stable but will be running a dual campaign in Italian GT3 Endurance and McLaren Trophy Europe.
Meanwhile, 29-year-old Riccardo Cazzaniga is set to compete in the Italian GT3 Sprint series with new customer team Raptor Racing. He was vice-champion in 2024 and contested a season of GT World Challenge Endurance Cup last season.
Demonstrating the pathway from McLaren Trophy to GT racing, 2025 McLaren Trophy Europe champion Alejandro Geppert graduates to GT3 Junior status, becoming the second series champion to do so after Tommy Pintos.
Former single-seater racer and European GT4 Series race winner McKenzy Cresswell completes the line-up. After a strong finish to his 2025 campaign, he returns to European GT4 in 2026.
Cresswell will also form part of the Talent Pathway with Elite Motorsport this season, alongside his European GT4 teammate Charlie Hart.
Fred Green, Yani Stevenheydens and Jacob Ashcroft complete the group benefiting from the new programme. Through the Elite McLaren Talent Pathway, drivers will receive guidance and support from sporting director Rob Bell. Selected individuals will also be invited to the McLaren Technology Centre for further assessment and potential progression to the factory driver programme.
Images courtesy of McLaren
