Pablo Nieto retires to concentrate on team management

Onde 2000´s Pablo Nieto has officially stated that he will finish riding in the World Championship when the current season ends in Valencia next weekend.

Following in the footsteps of his legendary father Angel, Nieto´s lengthy career has seen him achieve a race victory (in 2003 at Estoril), three pole positions and eight podium finishes in a total of 156 Grands Prix. His best championship finish was sixth place in 2004, in the 125cc class where he has spent his entire career.

Nieto made his first Grand Prix appearance in 1998 and went on to establish himself with Derbi over the next three seasons alongside Youichi Ui, earning the Rookie of the Year title in 1999 in his first full season.

Later he moved on to join Jorge Martínez in the Aspar team, with whom he earned his first pole (Jerez, 2002), first podium (Mugello, 2002) and the aforementioned Portuguese win in 2003. He moved back to Derbi in 2005 to fight for the title but ended up disappointingly in thirteenth place.

In recent years he has ridden for Aprilia (2006 & 2007) and KTM in this year´s Onde 2000 KTM setup.

The 28 year-old from Madrid will remain involved with racing in a management role with his current team, alongside his brother Gelete.