Hofmann began his competitive career in motocross before transitioning to road racing. He entered the German 125cc championship in 1995 and added the European series a year later. In 1997 he finished runner-up in the German 125cc series. Moving to 250cc in 1998, Hofmann won every race in the German championship and took the European 250cc title in his first season at that level — the first German to achieve both titles in a single debut 250cc campaign. He took number 66 as a tribute to his childhood idol Loris Capirossi. From 1999 to 2001 he competed as a regular in the 250cc World Championship, missing eight races in 2000 due to injury, but without reaching a podium.
Hofmann made his MotoGP debut in 2002 as a stand-in, filling in for Garry McCoy at the WCM Red Bull team and also substituting for Loris Capirossi at the Sito Pons team. He was hired by Kawasaki as a test rider in 2003, scoring points in both of his starts. For 2004 he joined Shinya Nakano as a full-time factory Kawasaki rider, replacing McCoy and Andrew Pitt. The following two seasons were difficult primarily due to injuries aggravated by his continued passion for motocross, and points finishes were infrequent. Kawasaki chose Randy de Puniet over Hofmann for 2006.
That year Hofmann joined the D'Antin Pramac team on a customer Ducati alongside José Luis Cardoso. When Sete Gibernau was injured at the Circuit de Catalunya — a race in which Hofmann finished eighth — Hofmann stepped up as a factory replacement for two rounds before returning to D'Antin. In 2007 he remained with D'Antin alongside veteran Alex Barros. He achieved fifth at Le Mans, putting him tenth in the championship after five rounds ahead of reigning champion Nicky Hayden, and was a strong eighth at Assen. A hand injury and subsequent replacements by Chaz Davies and Iván Silva interrupted his season. After returning at Misano, Hofmann was dismissed following the Portuguese Grand Prix after pulling out of the race mid-event, citing a lack of motivation — marking his final World Championship start.
Unable to secure a 2008 MotoGP ride, Hofmann was signed by Aprilia as a development and test rider for the new RSV4 superbike. A factory WorldSBK ride was a possibility, but the contract went to Shinya Nakano instead. Hofmann remained with Aprilia as a test rider before joining KTM in 2015 to assist in preparing the Austrian manufacturer's MotoGP return for 2017.
Hofmann transitioned into television commentary after his active career ended. From 2009, he worked as a co-commentator alongside Edgar Mielke on Sport1 in Germany, using his paddock knowledge and fluency in German, English, French, Spanish, and Italian to excel as a pit lane and grid reporter. When Eurosport acquired MotoGP broadcast rights for 2015, Hofmann moved to the channel before subsequently departing. From 2016 he joined ServusTV in Austria, working alongside Christian Brugger and fellow former racers Stefan Bradl, Thomas Lüthi, and Sandro Cortese. A subsidiary station, DF1, later inherited the rights following ServusTV's withdrawal from the German market, retaining the full broadcast team. He also covered the 24-hour Nürburgring endurance events for RTL2, RTL Nitro, and Sport1, and in 2016 was part of a broadcasting team that set a world record for the longest continuous sports broadcast, exceeding 25 hours 50 minutes — a mark subsequently extended to over 26 hours 20 minutes.
Alex Hofmann occupied a distinctive niche in German motorsport: a mid-grid MotoGP racer whose multilingual fluency and on-track experience proved better suited to broadcasting than to factory team success. His second career in television gave him a longer and arguably more influential presence in the sport than his riding years, making him one of Germany's most recognisable faces of MotoGP coverage.
Gallery · 4 related images
