American junior driver JohnJohn McLellan took on one of the deepest international grids of the season at the 2026 FIA Karting World Cup in Cremona, Italy, competing against 83 drivers in OK-N Junior competition.

McLellan immediately showed front-running pace during the opening sessions, finishing P6 in practice before qualifying P9 in wet conditions against the world-class field.

Throughout the qualifying heats, changing track conditions and penalties created a challenging weekend, but McLellan continued battling forward inside the field while demonstrating strong pace in mixed conditions.

In the Superheat, contact on the opening lap forced McLellan off track and dropped him to P33.

From there, McLellan delivered one of the standout recovery drives of the event, charging from the back of the field to P21 with clean pace and no penalties through the remainder of the race.

Although the performance was not enough on points to advance into the Final, the weekend further demonstrated McLellan’s growing competitiveness against elite international competition in FIA Karting.

The Southern California driver continues building momentum through his European racing program as part of his ongoing Road to Europe campaign.