The EKN Driver Diary is back for 2025, surrounding the FIA Karting Academy Trophy program that now is into its 16th season. The driver representing the United States of America in the Junior program is Gage Korn. The driver from Aurora, Colorado is part of the 49 driver roster from around the world competing in the ‘arrive and drive’ concept aboard the Exprit / Vortex / LeCont packages. Former champions of the FIA Karting Academy Trophy include Charles Leclerc (2011), Callum Bradshaw (2016), and USA driver Connor Zilisch (2020).

Korn is no stranger to the international scene, racing at the Rotax Grand Finals as part of Team USA from 2021-2024 in Mini Max and Junior Max competition. The 14-year-old began in karts at the age of four, advancing up the ranks at the club, regional and national level. Notable achievements include Challenge of the Americas Mini ROK title in 2022 and winning the US Trophy Final in Mini MAX that same year.

Gage is providing EKN with a look into his travel and weekend competing at the FIA Karting Academy Trophy-Junior program. The first event was held on May 15-18 at the Kartodromo Internacional Lucas Guerrero in Valencia, Spain (Click HERE for first installment). Below is a day-by-day look into Round Two of the championship program, held on July 17-20 at the Motorsportarena Mülsen in Germany.

Pre-Race Travel

The Korn duo hitting the tourist spots in Germany

My dad and I got headed out for Germany on Monday evening. A 10 hour flight to Munich then a 1 hour flight over to Berlin. We arrived in Berlin Tuesday at noon and headed to our hotel. We slept from 4pm to 10pm, was up for a bit and went back to bed. The jet lag was weird as usual, and I woke up at 4:30 am. Once we both got up, we headed to a little coffee shop in Berlin before heading out for some sightseeing. We first went to the Berlin Wall, then to the Bradenburger Tor were the Nazis used to walk through. Next was the memorial sight of the Jewish people.

After that, we started the three hour drive to Mülsen. We got to drive on the Autobahn, which was super cool. The top speed we reached was 220 kph (136 mph). Once into Mülsen, we went to the track and did a track walk. After walking around the pits for a bit, we headed to the hotel. It took us an hour to get into the room as they were more like apartments than a hotel. You didn’t go to a desk, and we didn’t understand the instructions. We went to dinner after finally getting into our place, meeting up with our Israeli friends who are super cool. That was it for Wednesday.

Thursday, July 17, 2025

We got up and got our favorite breakfast sandwiches at McDonald’s, which are so good in Europe. We also went into the German version of Home Depot, which is called OBI, to grab some rags. Once at the track, we had to wait a few hours for the kart. My dad tore it down and rebuilt the kart as I helped while in between our checks and meetings. The kart is the same from Valencia, however, we continued to do the engine raffle, which continues on throughout the event. Our only session on the day came at 5:20pm local time. It was sadly short lived as it started raining as we went out. Everyone was on dry tires but it allowed us to do a few slow laps to break the engines in and learn the track. I did two green flag laps then came in as it was no point risking it. Following our official briefing with the race director, we left the track and headed to Burger King for dinner, then headed back to our place for the night.

Friday, July 18, 2025

We get up for Friday. Head to McDonalds again to get a really good breakfast and head to the track. It had rained all night and was still sprinkling by the time our first session came around and we decided to skip it because there was no reason to buy rain tires for one session and risk crashing with someone. The second session was dry and that was the first time I realized how much grip there is and was going to be. It was so much that every time I would try to turn, the kart would jump up on two wheels. I ended that session not so good in the high teens ranking wise. The next session was happy hour, but before the session, we realized my dad had the front end all the way up instead of down, which was messing with the handling. We tried to take a little bit of grip out of the kart but the track gripped up even more so it was basically the same.

Qualifying was next and we took out as much grip that was possible to try to get it to handle normal. It felt a lot better as soon as I went out, but I put that to waste. I tried to make a pass on one last kid in traffic to then go set down some fast laps, but I fell a little bit back down the short shoot but I was already committed. As soon as I pulled out and hit the brakes, it locked up as there was debris off the line and I came in way to hot. I hit the kid at the apex and spun, stalling the kart, ending my qualifying two laps in. Later after the session, I was called to the stewards and they took away my three fastest laps for the incident, I only had two times set so I was going to start the same exact spot I did last round – dead last. It was a very frustrating end to the day and I for sure learned my lesson.

Saturday, July 19, 2025

Saturday, we got up and was hoping for a good day. Warm-up was a little better, coming in 13th. It was still not where we wanted to be, but kept trying to take all the grip out which we basically had all of it out. The first heat began with a red flag after the pole sitter was going so slow, he stalled his engine. With the OK-N engines having no clutch, he stalled and half the field behind him stalled. I was able to see it coming and avoided it.

After the red flag, the race finally got underway. I let the field crash in turn one and avoided the mess, getting up to 16th after the opening lap. I was still struggling with having too much grip in the kart, even more than warm-up. I still managed to get up to 14th in the end. We made a few kart changes before Heat #2 and also received the top qualifiers engine during the engine raffle. I gained three spots on the opening lap of the race, and the kart felt better. I was digging through the field and got up to 14th by the halfway point. Two drivers in front kept battling and we lost over two seconds to the rest of the front group. Once I got around them, I couldn’t catch back up but ended up 11th. That was the end of our on track time for Saturday at around 1:00pm. My dad and I watched the KZ races before heading back to the hotel. We went to eat dinner at a restaurant right downstairs. After that we went in for the night.

Sunday, July 20, 2025

Sunday was the final day action, and we were hoping for another good heat to put ourselves into a good starting spot for the main event. In warm-up we tried to take the bar out in the front. The kart handled better but it was binding it up and was not as fast, ending the session 12th in fast time. The final heat was going well after the first few laps as the kart was rolling well for the first time. In the turn 3 thru 5 section a few laps in, the kids around me all went low and I went high. They all ran each other over and blocked me in and I lost the whole field by at least 3-5 seconds. That ruined my chances at a good heat finish. The kart was fast and I was barely off of purple lap of the race for the first time all week. Sadly, I finished 19th.

The results from the heat races put me starting 30th in the Final. We changed the rear a little bit and it made the kart worse. I could feel that on the warm-up lap. The main event was really chaotic and wild. I went up about five spots the first few laps, then there was a yellow flag slow procedure, which brought the whole field right back together. I survive and began rolling through the field, reaching 17th!

I was happy with a good run in the Final but still not what we came here for. We packed up the kart and watched the KZ races, which had dramatic championship finishes. After that we went and had dinner with our Israeli friends, and also the Denmark family that finished on the podium were really cool too. We headed back to the hotel and went to bed. Our wake up call was at 3am as our flight was at 8am in Berlin. We flew from Berlin to Munich, which was like an hour flight. Then we got on the plane from Munich back to Denver. It was just an overall frustrating weekend again but Germany was really cool.

Round Three of the FIA Karting Academy Trophy-Junior program is scheduled for September 25-28 at the Cremona Karting facility in Italy as part of the FIA Karting World Cup for OK-N and OK-N Junior.

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