Fonsi Nieto

Alfonso González Nieto (born 2 December 1978 in Madrid, Spain), better known as Fonsi Nieto, is a Spanish former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and the nephew of successful Grand Prix motorcycle road racer Ángel Nieto. After success in the 250cc class, he moved to World Superbikes and made one MotoGP start. For 2010, he returned to the Grand Prix scene in the newly formed Moto2 category.

Nieto announced his retirement from competition in early 2011 after failing to recover from injuries suffered when racing at Indianapolis in 2010.

After the dramatic injury, Nieto began his career as a DJ and music producer, playing regularly at venues in Spain.

Nieto is currently the Rider Performance Director for Pramac Racing.

Early years Nieto won the Spanish 125cc championship in 1998, and the Spanish 250cc champion in 1999 and 2000, also winning the less prestigious European 125cc title in 1997. In 1999 and 2000, he raced in the 250cc World Championship alongside his domestic commitments, finishing 14th overall on a Yamaha TZ250 with a best result of sixth at Estoril in 2000.

250cc World Championship Nieto was fourth in the world championship in 2001, with four successive fifth places early in the season and a pair of late-season podium finishes. He won four races in 2002, finishing second to Marco Melandri. He was then fifth in 2003 with a win at Donington Park, and seventh in 2004.

Superbike World Championship

In , Nieto entered the Superbike World Championship with the Caracchi Ducati team, finishing 17th overall in the championship. A fourth in Round 4 of the season was the highlight; he only reached the top-ten once more. For and he rode for PSG-Kawasaki. His first podium finish came in Race 2 at Assen in 2006, following teammate Chris Walker's victory in the first race. He was also third at Magny-Cours in 2007. He took pole position at Lausitzring in 2007 after finding a dry spell in a wet qualifying session.

In 2007, Nieto also replaced the injured Olivier Jacque in the French Grand Prix making his debut in the MotoGP class, finishing the race in 11th place.

For , Nieto joined Alstare Suzuki, making an immediate impact by winning his first world superbike race in the second race of the opening round in Qatar. He finished the season seventh overall, but lost his ride as the team scaled back to two riders and retained the less successful Japanese Yukio Kagayama. However, Nieto returned to the team mid-season after Max Neukirchner was injured.

Career statistics Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Pts 1997 125cc Aprilia MAL JPN SPA16 ITA AUT FRA NED IMO GER BRA GBR CZE CAT INA AUS NC 0 1998 125cc Aprilia JPN MAL SPA15 ITA FRA MAD14 NED GBR GER CZE IMO CAT17 AUS ARG 29th 3 1999 250cc Yamaha MAL22 JPN14 SPA18 FRA12 ITA17 CATRet NED19 GBR17 GER18 CZE17 IMO18 VAL15 AUS16 RSA15 BRA17 ARG14 23rd 10 2000 250cc Yamaha RSARet MALRet JPN22 SPA16 FRA16 ITA9 CAT18 NED16 GBR18 GER12 CZERet POR6 VAL17 BRA11 PAC14 AUS9 14th 35 2001 250cc Aprilia JPN11 RSA5 SPA5 FRA5 ITA5 CAT5 NEDDNS GBR6 GER10 CZE7 POR4 VAL3 PAC4 AUS5 MAL3 BRA4 5th 167 2002 250cc Aprilia JPN13 RSA3 SPA1 FRA1 ITA3 CAT3 NED5 GBR2 GER4 CZE4 POR1 BRARet PAC4 MAL1 AUS2 VALRet 2nd 241 2003 250cc Aprilia JPN6 RSA7 SPA7 FRA4 ITA2 CAT2 NEDRet GBR1 GER2 CZE6 POR9 BRARet PAC8 MAL3 AUS3 VAL5 5th 194 2004 250cc Aprilia RSA7 SPA3 FRA7 ITA5 CAT5 NED8 BRA5 GER8 GBR5 CZERet PORRet JPNRet QAT5 MAL7 AUSRet VAL6 7th 124 2007 MotoGP Kawasaki QAT SPA TUR CHN FRA11 ITA CAT GBR NED GER USA CZE RSM POR JPN AUS MAL VAL 22nd 5 2010 Moto2 Moriwaki QAT13 SPA21 FRA8 ITA15 GBR11 NEDRet CAT8 GER4 CZE13 INPDNS SMR ARARet JPNRet MAL19 AUS12 POR24 VALRet 18th 45