Derek Wargo competed in the opening event of the FIA Karting Academy Trophy Senior program outside Valencia (Photo: Derek Wargo Racing)

(Photo: Derek Wargo Racing)

The EKN Driver Diary returns with a focus surrounding the FIA Karting Academy Trophy program. The international championship is into its 17th season and offering the Senior category for a second year. The United States of America did not have a representative in the category for 2025, with Louisiana driver Derek Wargo becoming the first to represent the Red, White and Blue. A total of 49 drivers from across the globe compete in the ‘arrive and drive’ program aboard the Exprit / Vortex / Maxxis packages.

Wargo is providing EKN with a look into his travel and experience competing at the FIA Karting Academy Trophy Senior program. The first event was held on May 7-10 at the Kartodromo Internacional Lucas Guerrero outside Valencia, Spain. Below is a day-by-day look into Round One of the championship chase.

Monday, May 4, 2026:

Start off the trip leaving from the MSY airport with two layovers on our way to Valencia. The first in Detroit, then in Amsterdam. The trip started off getting delayed, and we weren’t sure if we would make our next flight. We got to Detroit and ran towards the next gate, which was on the other side of the massive airport. We barely got there on time and ran into my entrant/mechanic for the weekend, Kristopher McCrone. Then we set sail overseas to Amsterdam.

Tuesday, May 5, 2026:

Boarding connection from the tarmac (Photo: Derek Wargo Racing)

We started off the day completely jetlagged after we landed in Amsterdam. It was around 12:30am local time when we went through customs and we headed towards our next gate. This is where we had our first airport food of the week. We sat and ate while waiting for our next flight to Valencia. This, however, was no ordinary American flight where you walk through the jetway tunnel to get to the plane. We had to walk outside, get transported by a bus, and walk up the steps to the plane. It was a decently small plane, and we were given cheese sandwiches by the airline, which was pretty cool. We landed in Valencia around 5:00pm local time and headed towards our Airbnb. We got to the Airbnb, and the person who rented us the building didn’t have a smart lock on the building, so we had to wait for him to come let us in. But in this process, it was Siesta in Spain. Siesta is a time in Spain from around 5pm to 8pm where people take naps and businesses close. We went to eat dinner and then when Siesta was over, the guy brought us the key at the house, and we were able to settle in for the week.

Wednesday, May 6, 2026:

The day started off a bit later than normal, at about 8:00am local time, when we left the house and headed to the track. Luckily it wasn’t our first time at the track, so we knew where everything was, including food. We were here once in October 2025 for the T4 Nations Cup. This was a Tillotson event, where I won a ticket to compete in from the USA and ended up performing well throughout the week. I ended up finishing second in that race and enjoyed a podium finish in my first international event.

The rest of the day consisted of briefings and making sure that the kart was set up. The kart was fully built, excluding the motor, seat, and weight. Kristopher and I spent the rest of the day putting the motor on, mounting the seat, mounting weight to the seat, and sitting in the briefings. There were not a lot of people that we knew that attended the FIA Academy event. We did see Lucas Palacio’s father as well as Micheal McGaughy, who were competing in the OK Junior and OK categories on the weekend. The day ended with the kart fully built, and we waited on a carburetor and exhaust springs. We ended the day off by getting food from Mercadona, which was the supermarket near our Airbnb.

Thursday, May 7, 2026:

Derek with father and mechanic Kris McCrone (Photo: Derek Wargo Racing)

The day started off earlier than the day before as we had our first on-track sessions. The first session started off badly as the carburetor was terrible. We found the issue before the second session when the Vortex mechanics started the motor. After we fixed the issue, it was the battle of learning the tires and the motor package.

This was my first race on an OK-N engine having tested it prior in Lorain, Ohio. This was the first time however on this compound of Maxxis tires. When conducting my OK-N motor test at Lorain Ohio Kartplex, we only utilized MG Yellows. That was the closest tire compound we had compared to the Maxxis Option tires.

I had a decent pace and was running with the fastest in my group, but we were too high on pressure, and we were dialing it in as the day went on. Then we ran into another issue. The Valencia rain. It started to rain cats and dogs right before one of our sessions, and then hail started to fall. The paddock became flooded, and nobody knew if we were going to have another session due to the amount of rain. But the sun in Spain did its job and dried it up enough so that we could go out on track. This did not mean that the track was dry, as it was still soaked. I ran a pretty good session and was pretty fast compared to other drivers.

We didn’t do much activities after on track action besides dinner due to being tired from the flights as well as the long days at the track.

Friday, May 8, 2026:

Wargo getting photos for FIA program and broadcast (Photo: Derek Wargo Racing)

Friday started off as another practice day where I was learning the kart, tires, and motor package. The track was dry for the day, and we got some good sessions in as we ran with the front runners in my practice group all day.

We made a couple setup changes as I got more familiar with the chassis and the tires. There are not many changes we can make to the chassis. For example, we can not change the rear axle or the front bar. But we made everything work the best we could.

Then came the last practice, which served as a qualifying practice. We had a pretty good session by going purple at the beginning with new tires. Then the others put new tires on and went faster due to better track conditions. Then came qualifying, where I had a good session and put it as high as I could at 12th overall. This set me up for third in Group D. This meant that I started 6th in every heat race.

We didn’t make any changes overnight but put the practice tires on that we had prior to qualifying. It was dinner and bed once again to prepare for the next day of action.

Saturday, May 9, 2026:

Dinner as a family was a big part of trip for the Wargo’s (Photo: Derek Wargo Racing)

Saturday meant race day. The morning warm-up went well, and we were ready to race excpet the conditions changed with rain falling. This meant rain racing! I was pretty excited for this, as I believe I am a pretty good rain driver. The first heat started off wet and wild. I got to 2nd in the first lap after a great start. Then I put my head down and caught the leader and made the move. I got to the lead and then fought with the driver from Japan for a couple laps. After we settled down, we pulled away from the pack, and I sat in second for most of the race. Towards the end the driver from the Netherlands caught me and got around for the second spot, which pushed me back to third. The second heat did not go as well as we made a setup change that I didn’t end up liking, and I finished eighth. That ended the day, and we had one more race for the following day.

One of the unique aspects of the Academy Trophy is the engine raffle system. Whenever we finished inside the top 10, we would switch the engine and get another random motor to use. The setup change that we ended up making was to put seat struts on for the rain, which I didn’t like too much as it made the kart a little too stiff. That night we drove around the area of our house to explore what the town had to offer.

Sunday, May 10, 2026:

Wargo and McCrone have been working together over the last year (Photo: Derek Wargo Racing)

Sunday meant finals, and we were in a good starting spot for the final before going into my third and final heat race. Heat Three was not the highlight of the weekend. I couldn’t get the kart to work for me as well as not having the best power. This led to me falling back in the pack to ninth at the finish. This finish put me tenth on the grid for the final. The beginning of the final didn’t go the best, as the driver in front of me was slow to get away when the green was waved. This set me back a little farther than I would have hoped for. For the rest of the race, I battled with a setup change that we made that wasn’t perfect but didn’t fully suit my driving. This caused me to struggle while other drivers were on the move. The race ended with me finishing 12th. We ended up taking the struts off for the final but the kart got too stuck down and I didn’t adjust my driving accordingly.

This was not the result we hoped for, so we are going to move on from the race and work towards Germany for the second round. Heading back home was pretty easy and relaxed. We left at around 5am from Spain and didn’t get home until around 6pm in the USA.

I want to thank all of my sponsors, my parents, Kristopher McCrone and all of the people at the event that helped us along the way.

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