Alex Hofmann


Alexander Hofmann 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

Hofmann 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, Hofmann 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. He was the first German to achieve both titles in his first season in the 250 cc class. Inspired by his childhood idol Loris Capirossi, he started with starting number 66. 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

Hofmann 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, Hofmann 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, 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, Hofmann 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, in what would be his final World Championship start.

Personal

Hofmann's 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 and a daughter called Sienna.
Hofmann is fluent in German, English, French, Spanish and Italian.
After his racing career, Hofmann started working as MotoGP co-commentator alongside German commentator for the German TV station Sport1 in 2009, where his knowledge from his own racing career and multilingualism prove helpful as a pit and grid reporter. He remained there until the end of 2014 when Eurosport acquired the rights for the MotoGP for the 2015 season.
Alex Hofmann also switched to Eurosport and also worked there as a pit lane reporter. In the spring of the following year, he left the channel, citing technical and personnel setbacks in his reporting.
When there was no place available for Hofmann on a MotoGP bike in the 2008 season, Aprilia hired Hofmann as a development and test rider for the new RSV4 superbike. If his performance was sufficient, it was planned that he would start as an Aprilia factory rider in the Superbike World Championship from 2009. However, this hope was dashed when Shinya Nakano, who had switched from the MotoGP class to the Superbike World Championship, received a contract with Aprilia and started for the Italians alongside Max Biaggi in 2009. The German remained a test rider for the manufacturer from Noale.
After his contract expired, he moved to KTM in 2015 to help prepare the company's entry into MotoGP in 2017 as a test rider.
Since 2016, Hofmann has worked for the Austrian TV station ServusTV as a racing expert and co-commentates alongside Austrian commentator Christian Brugger at the Motorcycle World Championship races. The Broadcast were available to the German audience again so the Team at ServusTV became a mixture of Austrian and German personnel. Due to his foreign language skills, he is often deployed in the starting grid and interviews the riders immediately before the start. Stefan Bradl serves as Hofmann's additional co-commentator and stand-in. Occasionally fellow GP ex-riders Thomas Lüthi and Sandro Cortese also appear on segments, sometimes due to their involvement in the paddock or replacement expert when Bradl did race and test for HRC and KTM.
After the Covid Pandemic ServusTV announced withdrawal to broadcast their frequencies to Germany, focusing solely on the Austrian market. Ultimately a subsidiary station was formed as DF1 that inherited the rights was formed just in time before the subsequent season with the whole cast and crew retained.
Hofmann has also occasionally been called in for during Formula 1 broadcasts on the German TV channel RTL. Furthermore Alex joined RTL2, RTL Nitro and Sport1 for the 24h Nürburgring Endurance Events in recent years, after his active rider career ended in the late 2010s. In 2016 he was among those broadcasting members who gained a world record as the longest continuous sports broadcast at a length at over 25 hours and 50 minutes. The following him and the broadcasting team expanded the duration of that record to 26 hours and 20 minutes. His knowledge and linguistical versatility helped him to establish a strong recurring role in motorsport coverage.

Career statistics

By season

By class

Races by year

YearClassBike123456789101112131415161718
1997125ccYamahaMALJPNSPAITAAUTFRANEDIMOGER
14		BRAGBRCZECATINDAUS28th2
1998250ccHondaJPNMALSPAITAFRAMADNEDGBRGER
10		CZEIMOCATAUSARG29th6
1999250ccTSR-HondaMAL
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		16th51
2000250ccApriliaRSA
Ret		MAL
10		JPN
15		SPA
17		FRA
18		ITA
Ret		CATNEDGBRGERCZE
19		POR
11		VAL
18		BRA
DNS		PACAUS25th12
2001250ccApriliaJPN
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		12th55
2002MotoGPYamahaJPNRSASPAFRAITACAT
Ret		NED
11		22nd11
2002MotoGPHondaGBR
17		GER
10		CZEPORBRAPACMALAUSVAL22nd11
2003MotoGPKawasakiJPNRSASPA
16		FRAITA
14		CATNED
10		GBRGER
17		CZE
19		PORBRAPACMALAUSVAL23rd8
2004MotoGPKawasakiRSA
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		15th51
2005MotoGPKawasakiSPA
11		PORCHNFRAITA
12		CAT
17		NED
Ret		USA
12		GBR
8		GER
Ret		CZE
15		JPN
Ret		MALQATAUSTURVAL
14		19th24
2006MotoGPDucatiSPA
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		17th30
2007MotoGPDucatiQAT
11		SPA
DSQ		CHN
9		TUR
9		FRA
5		ITA
11		CAT
13		GBR
9		NED
8		GER
9		USA
DNS		CZERSM
11		POR
Ret		JPNAUSMALVAL13th65