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An exclusive interview with Pirelli Motorsport Racing Manager Mario Isola, who reveals all the Pirelli backstories in regard to karting.
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[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he rumour of a future entry of Pirelli in the field of tyres for karting is not new.
Lately, however, a news item reported by Kartcom has reignited the debate forcefully. In the post published on its website, Kartcom showed a photo of Alonso with kart tyres that unequivocally had the P Zero Pirelli logo.

Many have thought that the time was therefore ripe to see the tyre industry giant, the sole supplier of tyres for F1 and Superbike, get on the track in karting as well.

[highlight color="yellow"]To understand more, TKart exclusively interviewed Mario Isola, the Pirelli manager responsible for all matters related to Motorsport.[/highlight]

 

Isola, who used to drive and is a fan of Karts, did not deny that karting is an extremely interesting market for the company, but also explained that, for the moment, they had not taken concrete steps towards an effective debut in this sector.
Also because, the Racing Manager said, a name like Pirelli must aim to reach the top, and thus, if it decides to engage in karting, it will do so with a high quality product for all major categories.
Translated: it is a job that requires commitment, resources and, therefore, more time.

Isola hinted that they had however, given some thought to it, considering starting in karting totally "on their own", or eventually relying on a manufacturer already involved in the industry. But, once again, this only concerns some thoughts and no concrete steps had followed.
Thus, to summarise, the interest is there, discussions have been taken place for some time, but ... it’s still necessary to wait.

What of the tires in the photo with Alonso, then?
Mario Isola explained that it was a very specific and detailed project, a request from Fernando to have Pirelli tyres for the campus held at the go-kart track that bears his name, in Spain.
In this case, Pirelli turned to a company that already produces kart tyres (the Italian company Le Cont) to satisfy the request of the former Ferrari driver. The photographed tyres definitely have the Pirelli logo, but were materially produced by Le Cont.
It is true, as pointed out by Mario Isola in the interview that you can listen to below in its entirety, that Alonso’s request rekindled the fire, that was never completely dormant, of Pirelli’s interest in karting.

The impression is that, sooner or later, the deal will really go through.
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