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Alex Hofmann

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German motorcycle racer
Alex Hofmann
Alex Hofmann in 2005
NationalityGerman
Born (1980-05-25) 25 May 1980 (age 44)
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

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.

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, 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, 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. 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. 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 has a two children, a son called Travis (b. 2010) and a daughter called Sienna (b. 2014).

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
1997 125cc Yamaha TZ125 Castor Kapital Racing 1 0 0 0 0 2 28th
1998 250cc Honda NSR250 Racing Factory 1 0 0 0 0 6 29th
1999 250cc Honda NSR250 Racing Factory 16 0 0 0 0 51 16th
2000 250cc Aprilia RSV 250 Racing Factory 9 0 0 0 0 12 25th
2001 250cc Aprilia RSV 250 Racing Factory 15 0 0 0 0 55 12th
2002 MotoGP Yamaha YZR500 Red Bull Yamaha WCM 2 0 0 0 0 11 22nd
Honda NSR500 West Honda Pons 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 GP5 Pramac d'Antin 14 0 0 0 0 30 17th
Ducati Desmosedici GP6 Ducati Marlboro Team 3
2007 MotoGP Ducati Desmosedici GP7 Pramac d'Antin 12 0 0 0 0 65 13th
Total 106 0 0 0 0 315

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 Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine 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

External links

250 cc Motorcycle European Champions
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