Marco Sammut traveled to Belgium for the first round of the FIA Karting Academy Trophy Junior championship (Marco Sammut Racing)

Sammut with Brandon Jarsocrak on the grid (Marco Sammut Racing)

The EKN Driver Diary returns with a focus surrounding the FIA Karting Academy Trophy program. The international championship is into its 17th season, which began with a Junior category and expanded in 2025 to offer a Senior championship. Since the launch of the program in 2010, the United States of America has had a representative in all but three years. The best result to date is the series championship by now NASCAR driver Connor Zilisch in 2020. The driver representing the Red, White and Blue in 2026 is New York driver Marco Sammut. He joins 49 other drivers from across the globe compete in the ‘arrive and drive’ program aboard the Exprit / Vortex / Vega packages.

Sammut is EKN with a look into his travel and experience competing at the FIA Karting Academy Trophy Junior program. The first event was held on May 21-24 at the Karting Genk facility in Belgium. Below is a day-by-day look into Round One of the championship chase.

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

After an overnight flight from New York, myself, my dad and Brandon Jarsocrak – my mechanic and driver coach – landed in Brussels, Belgium. This was not my first time in Europe, however, it was my first time to Belgium. From Brussels we made our way to the track to see the facility. I did a track walk with Brandon and was amazed how much grip was already on the track before the event started.

We then went to our hotel and settled in before getting dinner. We stayed in a great town of Hasslet, where there were many great restaurants and a little waterfront area.

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Marco enjoyed the food in Belgium (Marco Sammut Racing)

I woke up early, had a nice breakfast then went to the track. Today was a busy day. We had to sign in with the FIA and get all our paperwork in order along with several meetings to attend. While that was happening, we had to pick up our kart and build it, which really meant Brandon had the task of putting together the OTK Exprit chassis for me.

While I picked up my FIA Karting Academy Trophy OMP suit, I had my gear checked to make sure everything was legal. All in all, everything went smoothly and everything was very well organized. We had the kart all set up and ready for our first day on the track. Next to us in the paddock was Leo Da Silva, the representative from Canada. I have raced him multiple times already this season so it was good to know someone next to us in the pits all weekend.

After this we went back to the hotel and then walked around the town a bit and had another nice meal. People were super friendly.

Thursday, May 21, 2026

This is when the fun started. We had four on-track sessions as well as a few more FIA meetings.

The first session was a break in, where you have to run at a certain pace to ensure the motor is running properly. This was a struggle as I wanted to go faster than I was allowed to, but I did my best to follow the break in procedure (I might have gone a bit too fast). The track was a mix of fast and slow but I liked the layout.

The next three sessions were learning the track and going over video with Brandon to fix any mistakes I was making. I was overdriving into the corners, so I changed that and we were good. We also tried a few different adjustments with the chassis to get me more comfortable in the kart. We struggled a bit for speed as we were missing about a half a second consistently, but we worked hard to see where I was losing my time.

After the on track sessions, we prepped the kart for the next day and went back to our hotel for another great dinner. The food in Belgium was great! There was a great restaurant at the track and I loved the spaghetti bolognese.

Friday, May 22, 2026

Working with Brandon on data (Marco Sammut Racing)

We had another set of tires for Day Two practice, but we did not want to put them on at the start of the day. We worked on my driving and we made some progress. We put on our new tires the last session before qualifying, which is what more of the competitors seemed to do and we were fast. We ended the last practice P3. All the coaching and chassis adjustment paid off! The last session of the day was qualifying and again we were fast. I ended up fourth in my group, even sitting P1 at one time. Overall, I was classified eighth and put in the Group D, starting from the outside of Row 2 for all my heat races. This was a great way to end the day off. We got things ready for another day and went for another nice meal.

Saturday, May 23, 2026

Canada driver Leo Da Silva and Marco enjoying lunch at the track (Marco Sammut Racing)

Today we had three on-track sessions. The first was warm up, where again we had really good speed, and I was looking forward to the two heat races that were ahead of me. Heat One turned out to be a bit of a disaster and would set me back for my weekend’s potential. We started P4 on the outside and going into turn 1 of the opening lap, I was hit from behind and spun. The crash took out about seven other drivers. It was really upsetting as I thought I had speed to compete at the front. We got the kart back to the pits to replace the axel and get the frame fixed as it was slightly damaged. Heading into Heat Two, I was a bit nervous as I knew I could not afford another DNF as I would not be able to make the final with 2 DNF’s. I went into the second heat a bit apprehensive in turn 1 – normally not my style – but I wanted to get through the first lap. This did shuffle me back to about P9 over the opening lap, which was not Ideal. I drove a good heat and ended up in fourth. I was happy with that.

At this point, we had to switch motors with one of my competitors. After every official session they told you to switch engines with another person. That has been the standard format for the FIA Academy Trophy program to help level out the performances for all drivers. Getting the different engine, we got the kart prepped for the next day. I knew tomorrow was really going to be important as I needed a good Heat Three.

Sunday, May 24, 2026

Marco won his third heat (Marco Sammut Racing)

Finals day…well hopefully. First, I needed to get through heat 3. The morning warm up went well. My kart balance was great and the new motor felt good. I was ready for the third heat. The start went better as I came out of turn 1 in P5 and by turn 3, I was back in P4, which is where I started. I had the leaders in sight, and I picked them off one at a time. My favorite spot to pass was the corner going into the back straightaway. I ended up in the lead by lap six and held on to score the win!

This set me up for a P10 starting position for the Final. Considering my first heat was a DNF this was really good. I got to collect my FIA starting medal and take part in the opening ceremony. Then we pushed the karts to the grid and got ready for the Final. Again, I had to start on the outside, not an ideal starting position. I had a sub-par start and got myself to the inside line. Sadly, this time the inside line did not run well into turn one and the outside line made up a lot of ground. I was shuffled back to 18th at one point but got into P15 by the end of the opening lap. I thought I could still make my way to the top five at this point. Sadly, I had a really hard time with one driver over the first three to four laps with blocking. I just could not get past him and the lead pack got away. I ended up driving well the rest of the race as I even posted a fastest lap or two to cross the line in 10th position. I was not happy with this finish but after a bit of time I can say it was OK considering my first heat.

The event was really great. The FIA people were nice, the OTK staff were excellent as well. They were very helpful and it was very organized event. We were able to travel home on Monday, and thankfully there was not school that day, as I knew my mom would have made me go!

To sum up Round One, I can say I did well. Disappointed as I truly believed I could have had a podium finish if not top five. I managed to find the speed to run at the front, I won a heat and I am confident I can be competitive for the remainder of this exciting series. It was fun racing new people from all over the world. Having Brandon there really helped and first time in Belgium was amazing, great food, people and beautiful towns. I can’t believe from where I started at a small cool track at Oakland Valley Race Park in New York, I would be racing in Europe at the FIA Academy.

My next few weeks are going to be filled with racing in the United States and finishing up my school Year. I want to thank my dad and Brandon for working hard with me and doing everything to get me to the FIA races.

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