Alex Hofmann

Alex Hofmann
Alex Hofmann in 2005
Nationality	German
Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1997 - 2007 First race 1997 125cc German Grand Prix Last race 2007 MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix Team(s) Yamaha, Honda, TSR-Honda, Aprilia, Kawasaki, Ducati Championships 0 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 106 0 0 0 0 315

Alexander Hofmann (born 25 May 1980 in Mindelheim, Germany) is a retired Grand Prix motorcycle racer, who now works on German television coverage of the sport. He is nicknamed 'The Hoff' in English-speaking countries, a nod to David Hasselhoff.

Early years

He successfully raced in Motocross in his early teens, before entering the German 125cc championship for the first time in 1995, and the European series alongside it a year later. In 1997 he was runner-up in the German series, and also started the German 125cc World Championship race as a wild card.

In 1998 he moved up to 250cc, winning every race in the German championship and also winning the European title, as well as coming 10th in a one-off in the 250cc World Championship. From 1999 to 2001 Hofmann was a regular in this series, although without taking a podium finish, and missing 8 races in 2000 due to injury.

MotoGP

He started 2002 without a ride, but made his MotoGP debut as a stand-in rider for Garry McCoy at the WCM Red Bull team, also filling in for Loris Capirossi for Sito Pons' team. He was hired to be Kawasaki's test rider role in 2003. In two starts, he scored points both times. He and Shinya Nakano replaced McCoy and Andrew Pitt as full-time racers in 2004. The next two years were difficult, mainly due to injuries,^[1] partly through his love of Motocross. Points were rare and Kawasaki chose Randy de Puniet for 2006 over Hofmann.

In 2006 he joined the D'Antin Pramac team, riding on a 2006 customer version of the works Ducati alongside José Luis Cardoso. When their factory rider Sete Gibernau was injured at the Circuit de Catalunya (a race in which Alex finished 8th, helped by 3 riders not starting the resumption of the race), Hofmann was appointed as his replacement for the next 2 races, before returning to D'Antin for his home race at Sachsenring,^[2] dropping out early.

In 2007 he remained with D'Antin, alongside the veteran Alex Barros. Fifth place at Le Mans took him to 10th in the championship after five rounds, ahead of reigning champion Nicky Hayden. He was a strong 8th at Assen. Preparation for his home round at the Sachsenring were hampered by a hand injury suffered when a friend closed a car door onto it, but he scored minor points in the race. He injured his hand in practice at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.^[3] He was replaced at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca by Chaz Davies and by Iván Silva at Brno. He returned to racing at Misano but he was fired by the team following the Portuguese Grand Prix, after pulling out of the race while in with a chance of scoring points, due to a lack of motivation.^[4] He never raced again.

Personal

His girlfriend is called Romina Rados. He loves action sports such as skiing and BMX bikes. At 1.80m he is tall for a motorcycle racer. His favourite food is Italian.

He is fluent in German, English, French, Spanish and Italian.

After his racing career he started working as MotoGP commentator for the German TV station Sport1, where his knowledge from his own racing career and multilingualism prove helpful. He also became a test driver, initially for Aprilia helping to develop the RSV4 and now KTM and their MotoGP project.

Career statistics

By season

Seas	Class	Moto	Team	Race	Win	Pod	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd	WCh
1997	125cc	Yamaha TZ125		1	0	0	0	0	2	28th	-
1998	250cc	Honda NSR250		1	0	0	0	0	6	29th	-
1999	250cc	Honda NSR250		16	0	0	0	0	51	16th	-
2000	250cc	Aprilia RSV 250		9	0	0	0	0	12	25th	-
2001	250cc	Aprilia RSV 250		15	0	0	0	0	55	12th	-
2002	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR500	WCM	2	0	0	0	0	11	22nd	-
Honda NSR500	Pons Racing	2	0	0	0	0
2003	MotoGP	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR	Kawasaki Racing Team	5	0	0	0	0	8	23rd	-
2004	MotoGP	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR	Kawasaki Racing Team	16	0	0	0	0	51	15th	-
2005	MotoGP	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR	Kawasaki Racing Team	10	0	0	0	0	24	19th	-
2006	MotoGP	Ducati Desmosedici	Pramac d'Antin	17	0	0	0	0	30	17th	-
2007	MotoGP	Ducati Desmosedici	Pramac d'Antin	12	0	0	0	0	65	13th	-
Total				106	0	0	0	0	315		0

By class

Class	Season(s)	1st Grand Prix	1st Podium	1st Win	Race	Win	Pod	Pole	FLap	Pts	WCh
125cc	1997	1997 Germany	N/A	N/A	1	0	0	0	0	2	0
250cc	1998–2001	1998 Germany	N/A	N/A	41	0	0	0	0	124	0
MotoGP	2002–2007	2002 Catalunya	N/A	N/A	64	0	0	0	0	189	0
Total	1997-2007				106	0	0	0	0	315	0

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	Yamaha	MAL	JPN	SPA	ITA	AUT	FRA	NED	IMO	GER 14	BRA	GBR	CZE	CAT	IND	AUS				28th	2
1998	250cc	Honda	JPN	MAL	SPA	ITA	FRA	MAD	NED	GBR	GER 10	CZE	IMO	CAT	AUS	ARG					29th	6
1999	250cc	TSR-Honda	MAL 17	JPN 18	SPA 15	FRA 8	ITA 16	CAT 11	NED 11	GBR 13	GER 9	CZE Ret	IMO 17	VAL 10	AUS 13	RSA 13	BRA 12	ARG 10			16th	51
2000	250cc	Aprilia	RSA Ret	MAL 10	JPN 15	SPA 17	FRA 18	ITA Ret	CAT	NED	GBR	GER	CZE 19	POR 11	VAL 18	BRA DNS	PAC	AUS			25th	12
2001	250cc	Aprilia	JPN 12	RSA 10	SPA 11	FRA 11	ITA 18	CAT 9	NED 12	GBR 9	GER 7	CZE Ret	POR Ret	VAL Ret	PAC 17	AUS Ret	MAL 8	BRA 17			12th	55
2002	MotoGP	Yamaha	JPN	RSA	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT Ret	NED 11												22nd	11
		Honda								GBR 17	GER 10	CZE	POR	BRA	PAC	MAL	AUS	VAL
2003	MotoGP	Kawasaki	JPN	RSA	SPA 16	FRA	ITA 14	CAT	NED 10	GBR	GER 17	CZE 19	POR	BRA	PAC	MAL	AUS	VAL			23rd	8
2004	MotoGP	Kawasaki	RSA Ret	SPA 13	FRA Ret	ITA 14	CAT 11	NED 13	BRA 11	GER 10	GBR 19	CZE 13	POR 13	JPN 10	QAT 9	MAL Ret	AUS 13	VAL 11			15th	51
2005	MotoGP	Kawasaki	SPA 11	POR	CHN	FRA	ITA 12	CAT 17	NED Ret	USA 12	GBR 8	GER Ret	CZE 15	JPN Ret	MAL	QAT	AUS	TUR	VAL 14		19th	24
2006	MotoGP	Ducati	SPA 15	QAT 15	TUR 16	CHN 15	FRA 13	ITA Ret	CAT 10	NED 12	GBR 13	GER Ret	USA 14	CZE 16	MAL 15	AUS 13	JPN 16	POR 11	VAL Ret		17th	30
2007	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT 11	SPA DSQ	CHN 9	TUR 9	FRA 5	ITA 11	CAT 13	GBR 9	NED 8	GER 9	USA DNS	CZE	RSM 11	POR Ret	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	13th	65

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

Year	Make	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		Pos.	Pts
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
2002	Kawasaki	SPA	SPA	AUS	AUS	RSA	RSA	JPN	JPN	ITA	ITA	GBR	GBR	GER 13	GER 15	SMR	SMR	USA	USA	GBR	GBR	GER	GER	NED	NED	ITA	ITA	34th	4

References

1. Alex Hofmann retrieved from bbc.co.uk
2. Sachsenring; D'Antin Ducati Preview - July 11, 2006 retrieved from insidebikes.com
3. FIVE WEEK RECOVERY TIME FOR ALEX HOFMANN AFTER PRACTICE CRASH retrieved from trymysport.co.uk
4. Hofmann sacked. retrieved from crash.net on September 17, 2007

External links

• Official website
• Official MotoGP profile
• Bio at EastCoast wheels
• Crash.net profile