Fonsi Nieto

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is González and the second or maternal family name is Nieto.

Alfonso González Nieto (born 2 December 1978 in Madrid, Spain), better known as Fonsi Nieto, is a 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.

Fonsi Nieto
Nieto in 2009
Nationality	Spanish
Born	Alfonso González Nieto (1978-12-02) 2 December 1978 (age 47) Madrid, Spain
Website	fonsinieto.com
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2007 Manufacturers Kawasaki Championships 0 2007 championship position 22nd (5 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 1 0 0 0 0 5 Moto2 World Championship Active years 2010 Manufacturers Moriwaki-Honda Championships 0 2010 championship position 18th (45 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 15 0 0 0 0 45 250cc World Championship Active years 1999–2004 Manufacturers Aprilia, Yamaha Championships 0 2004 championship position 7th (124 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 95 5 18 12 7 771 125cc World Championship Active years 1997–1998 Manufacturers Aprilia Championships 0 1998 championship position 29th (3 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 4 0 0 0 0 3

Nieto announced his retirement from competition in early 2011 after failing to recover from injuries suffered when racing at Indianapolis in 2010.^[1]

After the dramatic injury he began his career as a DJ and music producer,^[2] playing regularly at venues in Spain.^[3][4]

He 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 6th at Estoril in 2000.

250cc World Championship

Nieto was 4th in the world championship in 2001, with 4 successive 5th places early in the season and a pair of late-season podium finishes.^[5] He won 4 races in 2002, finishing 2nd to Marco Melandri. He was then 5th in 2003 with a win at Donington Park, and 7th in 2004.

Superbike World Championship

Nieto at the Assen round of the 2007 season.

In 2005, 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 10 once more. For 2006 and 2007 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.^[6] He took pole position at Lausitzring in 2007 after finding a dry spell in a wet qualifying session.^[7]

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 2008, 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.^[8] He finished the season 7th overall, but lost his 2009 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	SPA 16	ITA	AUT	FRA	NED	IMO	GER	BRA	GBR	CZE	CAT	INA	AUS				NC	0
1998	125cc	Aprilia	JPN	MAL	SPA 15	ITA	FRA	MAD 14	NED	GBR	GER	CZE	IMO	CAT 17	AUS	ARG					29th	3
1999	250cc	Yamaha	MAL 22	JPN 14	SPA 18	FRA 12	ITA 17	CAT Ret	NED 19	GBR 17	GER 18	CZE 17	IMO 18	VAL 15	AUS 16	RSA 15	BRA 17	ARG 14			23rd	10
2000	250cc	Yamaha	RSA Ret	MAL Ret	JPN 22	SPA 16	FRA 16	ITA 9	CAT 18	NED 16	GBR 18	GER 12	CZE Ret	POR 6	VAL 17	BRA 11	PAC 14	AUS 9			14th	35
2001	250cc	Aprilia	JPN 11	RSA 5	SPA 5	FRA 5	ITA 5	CAT 5	NED DNS	GBR 6	GER 10	CZE 7	POR 4	VAL 3	PAC 4	AUS 5	MAL 3	BRA 4			5th	167
2002	250cc	Aprilia	JPN 13	RSA 3	SPA 1	FRA 1	ITA 3	CAT 3	NED 5	GBR 2	GER 4	CZE 4	POR 1	BRA Ret	PAC 4	MAL 1	AUS 2	VAL Ret			2nd	241
2003	250cc	Aprilia	JPN 6	RSA 7	SPA 7	FRA 4	ITA 2	CAT 2	NED Ret	GBR 1	GER 2	CZE 6	POR 9	BRA Ret	PAC 8	MAL 3	AUS 3	VAL 5			5th	194
2004	250cc	Aprilia	RSA 7	SPA 3	FRA 7	ITA 5	CAT 5	NED 8	BRA 5	GER 8	GBR 5	CZE Ret	POR Ret	JPN Ret	QAT 5	MAL 7	AUS Ret	VAL 6			7th	124
2007	MotoGP	Kawasaki	QAT	SPA	TUR	CHN	FRA 11	ITA	CAT	GBR	NED	GER	USA	CZE	RSM	POR	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	22nd	5
2010	Moto2	Moriwaki	QAT 13	SPA 21	FRA 8	ITA 15	GBR 11	NED Ret	CAT 8	GER 4	CZE 13	INP DNS	SMR	ARA Ret	JPN Ret	MAL 19	AUS 12	POR 24	VAL Ret		18th	45