Alex Hofmann

Alexander Hofmann (born 25 May 1980) 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.

Alex Hofmann
Alex Hofmann in 2005
NationalityGerman
Born (1980-05-25) 25 May 1980
Mindelheim, West Germany
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Active years1997 - 2007
First race1997 125cc German Grand Prix
Last race2007 MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix
Team(s)Yamaha, Honda, TSR-Honda, Aprilia, Kawasaki, Ducati
Championships0
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
106 0 0 0 0 315

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

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 Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine retrieved from trymysport.co.uk
  4. Hofmann sacked. Archived 2008-02-10 at the Wayback Machine retrieved from crash.net on September 17, 2007
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Davide Bulega		 250 cc motorcycle European Champion
1998		 Succeeded by
Ivan Clementi
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