Bertone’s body design was chunky and stubby yet somehow wicked — and predictably minimal, to hold down weight and bulk. Its most distinctive features were semi-concealed A-pillars and a door beltline sharply upswept to the top of the daylight opening. The shape of the resulting unbroken expanse of glass gave the tunnelback roof the appearance of a futuristic crash helmet.

With 190 horsepower in roadgoing trim, the Stratos could exceed 140 mph. With nicely balanced, if slightly nervous, handling, it was as different from, say, a Corvette as a Derby winner is from a plow horse, the kind of car with which you had to become thoroughly familiar before you could really drive flat out. As with the compact mid-engine Ferraris, however, the Stratos was addictive, and most owners fell in love with it.

Automobile design consultant Chris Hrabalek has the largest Lancia Stratos Collection in the world – he owns 11 unique Lancia Stratos cars, including the fluorescent red 1971 factory prototype and the 1977 Safari Rally car.

This new Stratos arrives during the 40th anniversary year of the Marcello Gandini-designed Stratos Zero concept, whose name was later resurrected for the rally car and homologation special.

Reference

• Technical specifications of 1974 Lancia Stratos. carfolio.com
• 1975 Lancia Stratos. sportscarmarket.com
• Lancia/Models/Lancia Stratos. carsfromitaly.net
• Beyond the Stratos-phere. topgear.com

With the major managers of Yamaha watching this fulminant race up to the last curve of the last round, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo keep battling on their motorcycles with only few centimeters distance and more than 280 km/h over the runway, attacking and overcoming each other, and after thirty rounds and 110 kilometers Rossi once again served 99 thousand customers his 101 win.

Bat of an eyelid

The spectators on the grandstands came into delightment (again), the adventure country Sachsenring opened its gates again for the MotoGP circus, and approximately 98,000 fans came alone on Sunday to see the races and/or Rossi. The majority of them saw finally their favorite right at the top on the landing in the MotoGP class.

Valentino, the only 46

Rossi, again and again Rossi. Eight times the 30 years old Italian won the world champion chip, he won in all classes and leads this year also in the rankings.
Four victories in nine racse, 101 successes altogether – a balance, which should deserve the highest respect. After its recent triumph Rossi did not sit on the podium, he was beaming with happiness.

It was fantastically there outside, it was unbelievable fun.

A relaxed and content man

The others racers however looked rather stressed, you could see the “work” they delivered for the last hour racing a genius like Rossi.

The distance between us becomes ever smaller, and in the future I can perhaps also win

said the 22 year old Lorenzo. In round 26 he pulled past on Rossi, but three rounds later the man with the world-wide known number 46 successfully counteracted. Almost it had the appearance, as if Rossi knew exactly that nobody would take this victory from him.

Of historical note is that this game matches up two franchises that were merged into a single team for the 1944 season, in response to the depleted rosters during World War II.

BBC Radio 5 Live will carry the game in the UK, with Arlo White commentating.

Rossi on interview:

For me it has been fantastic. It´s the first time that I´ve been able to win here, and it was an unbelievable race. The crew made some modifications and I was able to take a much better pace. I had a good start, then a great battle with Casey, which was a lot of fun. It´s an important victory –very emotional- and now in the summer break we will relax, because the championship is so long.

Prices of certification courses often range from $100 to more than $350. There is such a broad range because different courses include different things. It’s essential to find out every last morsel that is included in a course, because that $100 course can end up costing you more than the $350 one.
Ask about textbooks and dive tables, log books; equipment (students usually provide their own mask, snorkel, fins and booties, but rental fees for other equipment–like B.C.’s, regulators and tank–are usually included); boat fees; open-water dives; and the certification card (including picture).

The Burton european Open were held last week in Laax, but I had no time to get there…

After nearly a meter of snow fell in Laax over the last weekend, no clouds just blue sky, unveiling a perfect snow and untouched powder on the surrounding slopes.

Map of Laax, Swiss

View the Superbowl43 wallpaper

Further Websites with info on Superbowl xlII:

• Official site
  with an ugly colour scheme
• Arizona Superbowl site
  showing a nice designed icon
• Wikipedia Superbowl site
  with background info
• Wallpaper

Info on Superbowl xlII:
Date: February 3, 2008
Kick-off: 4:18 p.m. (6:18 p.m. EST)
Television: FOX
Halftime performer(s) Bruce Springsteen, Norah Jones and The Eagles were asked as potential targets.
Officially announced Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers would be the halftime entertainment as of Dec, the 2nd.

Time loses its meaning, if in between sunrise and sunset it’s bright enough, thus like it enough that the surfer can get the enough wave speed to ride into the ocean.

Tonight, from a room only Dickens could love
Wearing moth-eaten sweaters and gloves
We will open the window and feel an on-shore wind
A-blowing in
Grab our boards from the back of our van
Paddle out ’til we can’t see the sand
Spin around and drop into the wave we hope will never end

Tyson info:

- Box records
- J.C Oates on Tyson
- Tyson’s persona
- Photo gallery
- Quotes

After D’Amato died, everything in Tyson’s private life went wrong: marriage to the low profile actress Robin Givens, the unfortunate liason with Don King and his career end at the fight with contender James “Buster” Douglas in Tokyo, 1990, forced by the mob. The betting at this time were 42–1 favorising Tyson, while confirmed info talks about a ten million US Dollar bet against Tyson. Count: 10 million with a 42-1 scheme, enough money to lay down.

Since then Tyson had no hand against the mob, followed by an arranged rape conviction in July 1991. After the unholy Douglas fight and the prison iron mike’s career was dead. Period.

Hum, now I need just a few bucks to get this metallic brown in color, with beige leather interior beauty previously owned by Steve McQueen, perhaps a donate button?

Apropos McQueen: forget those nowadays “cool” film actors, Travolta? A fat guy in a plane, the Coen Bros should make a movie about it.

Cruise? A control freak which is controlled from an obscure church.

Clooney? He likes Rock Hudson, don’t he?

Go back in time to find a REAL rival for McQueen: Robert Michum. Period.

Ever wondered how those high prized cars look like, when they are crashed? Especially the Porsche Carrera GT, which is a supercar worth $ 444,400 US Dollar.

Engine: using the 5.5L V10 from the prototype in a concept car shown at the 2000 Geneva Motor Show, producing 612 DIN (605 SAE) horsepower (450 kW) while the original concept car featured a 5.5 litre version rated at 558 hp (416 kW), includes a pure carbon fiber monocoque and subframe. Fun.

What a shame: kicking a highly acclaimed racer from the team, remember: Loris stayed with Ducati when the bikes were merely shitty to drive, and now, when the success is onboard, those hunchbacks are kicking him out, Shame on you DUCATI. <

a title="Con le foto di Macio, le notizie dal team, approfondimenti sul pilota, le novità sui gran premi e il MacioNetRace, gioco online per appassionati di corse." href="http://www.marcomelandri.it/">Marco Melandri is a good driver, but not as good as the winner of three World Championships and more than 20 Grand Prix victories, Loris Capirossi is one of the most experienced and best-loved characters in MotoGP. The Italian has been renowned for his all-action riding style ever since he first started competing at world level 16(!) years ago.

Below is the best of Loris Capirossi:

Wow, terrific, the noise, the sound, the look, the feel. It started at friday with the practice, then the qualifying at saturday followed by the magnificient race on sunday, where Alonso passed the slower running Massa in the last fifth round.
More coverage about the race at Eurosport.
Tarantino was there too, fortunately we didn’t met this twat, although we had some nice back pass “borrowed” from a friend.

Some interesting photos and videos about the Nuerburgring and the Nordschleife, view the satellite map, an onboard video of a one lap at the GP track and some statistics.

Lurking for deeper information about the cartoon, I’ve found the wikipedia article, the ACME site, the Road Runner show page, where I found the following:

If you’re on a highway and Road Runner goes beep-beep!
Just step aside, or you might end up in heap!
Road Runner, Road Runner runs on the road all day.
Even the Coyote can’t make him change his ways.

Sounds a bit like the sponsor hunting at the WordPress themeviewer right now…

Plymouth, a division of the Chrysler Corporation, released in the year 1970 this supercool Muscle car with a 426-cid Hemi engine, costs for Plymouth were $50,000 US Dollar (at that time) for the rights to use the Road Runner name and other bells and whistles ( beep – beep horn ).

Vale did it at the same corner with Edwards, Pedrosa and Hayden, thus the overtake gave him a clear track to the first place. What a pace…Now there shouldn’t be anymore rumours about Rossi turning to Ferrari (Hoax anyway), if you saw how Rossi celebrated his outstanding victory started from the 11th position in the grid.

About 10k cars, representing every model from every era, participated in the global journey, while the "Ferrari 60 Relay" was welcomed in each of the countries it passed with a gift dedicated to Ferrari. The 58 gifts are to be put to a charity auction and the money will be donated to children’s hospitals in Modena and Bologna.

The historical F1 cars entered the race track: from the 1947 125 S to the 2006 248 F1, all of them driven by former and actual Ferrari drivers: Ivan Capelli (with a 1932 Alfa Romeo P3), Nino Vaccarella (1040 Auto Avio Costruzioni 815), Luca Badoer (375 F1), Gerhard Berger (500 F2), Andrea De Adamich (Dino 166 F2), Felipe Massa (312 T), Jody Scheckter (312 T4), René Arnoux (126 C4), Jean Alesi (F1-90), Michael Schumacher (F2004), Kimi Raikkonen (F2007) and again Schumacher with the FXX. Piero Ferrari drove some laps with the 125 S, the first car ever built at the works in Maranello in the year 1947.

Ferrari chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo waved as he arrives on the company’s track during a relay for the celebration of Ferrari’s 60th anniversary in the Italian town of Fiorano June 23, 2007.

A few tech gadgets for the

BEST VOTED SPORTS MOTORCYCLE OF 2007

The Testastretta Evoluzione engine is the crowning glory of Ducatis development and perfection of the L-Twin engine. World Superbike dominance for the last 15 years is the result of continual commitment to twin-cylinder technology and the 1098 Testastretta Evoluzione, the most powerful twin-cylinder production engine in history, is a fitting reward to our engineers continued ingenuity.

Now check more tech or watch the video:

Drive safely, the life you safe could be mine

Friday started with halfway good weather, no rain and good winds.
Saturday was rainy and cold (9degrees), but terriffic winds and good loops.
More info and webcams at Desenzano del Garda.
Looks like still bad weather conditions.

These three races are considered as a Triple Crown of the most famous automobile races in the world. Graham Hill is the only driver to have completed the Triple Crown, by winning all three races. The practice sessions for Monaco had overlapped with that for the Indianapolis 500 in the past years, the races themselves sometimes clashed too, but nowadays race drivers can asign to both races.

Checked in advance a lot of F1 related sites and most of them are more the linkfarm way with creepy myspace layouts and filled with blinky blinky. Thought of a clean, but informative style with base colour white, including a swf/flv player, various javascripts for images as well as drop down menues with changing headers.
F1 Racing.DK should have the look of a corporate site, but with some personal touch.

Dear Milo,

In recognition of your creative work and professional approach on the F1Racing.DK, I would like to thank you so much for making an actual identity for the website and what it stands for.

Website development seem to be mastered by many and creates the body. Design are mastered only by few. It makes the face and the heart. Both of these are You.

Brgds
Reinar

This is an attempt on a cool wallpaper for the Mustang GT. Listen to the original sound of a Mustang
GT.

Download the Ford Mustang wallpaper here.

Weather: sunny / 18 degrees

Car: Jag XK8 convertible

Destination: Lago di Garda

Byebye…

What a beautiful car, it’s more an art sculpture than a chassis on wheels.

Vale has done it again: Rossi rules again the Moto GP: From second on the grid Rossi overtook Pedrosa at the kick start and accelerated into a lead for the whole duration of the 27-lap race.

With this fulminant victory ended his longest winless barren spell of five races stretching back to Malaysian GP (Home of Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix. Provides events, online tickets purchase, photo gallery and track information) last year and Rossi’s in a nine-point championship lead.

Felipe Massa is eyeing pole position for the Australian Grand Prix after going fastest on the opening day of practice on Friday.

This Artwork created by using two of the official F1 posters, my imagination and Photoshop. Copyrighted!

Rossi’s Yamaha was equal to Stoner’s Ducati through the twisty section of the track, and it was there where he passed the Australian three times during the race, but was each time undone by his bike’s lack of straightline speed, which was 20kph slower than his rival’s.

The car suddenly turns right on the Autobahn which is straight, dry and in quite good condition with hardly any traffic, and after a very fast 90 degree turn goes through the guard rail and then lands with the top down in a forest about 150 meters from the place where the guard rail was broken through.

Interested?

My husband gave me the book: “King of the World” – the biography by David Remnick and the DVD “When we wre kings ( When We Were Kings is a 1996 documentary film directed by Leon Gast about the famous Rumble in the Jungle heavyweight championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman held in Zaire on October 30, 1974. )”to watch.
I must confess, this guy is larger than life and very impressive, just listen to some quotes: Ali himself.
Further info:

Illustration created by using two of the official Muhammad Ali posters, my imagination and Photoshop.

創立以来、911、プライベートチームの両方で、工場自体が、レースのため、自動車の競争の他のタイプのラリーが変更されています。それは頻繁に最も成功した競争車をいつものように、自然吸気911カレラ＆スパペナンrsr 1970年代半ばのようにタルガフロリオ、デイトナ、セブリングや試作品あからさま反してもニュルブルクリンクなどの主要な世界選手権のスポーツカーレースを獲得しています挙げている。 935ターボは、1979年にルマンのあこがれの24時間に追加しました。

As mentioned two weeks ago at the semifinals i love this sport, last time i’ve watched Any given sunday, tonite i’ll do some Last Boy Scout with Bruce Willis as a warmup.

Info:

1. Indianapolis Colts
2. New England Patriots
3. Super bowl XLI
4. NFL
5. Yahoo on superbowl
6. Bruce Willis in LBS :

Super bowl XLI Wallpaper created by using two of the official Super bowl XLI icons, my imagination and Photoshop.

2007 riders Loris Capirossi – who starts his fifth year with the squad – and new recruit Casey Stoner, were also presented to the media, after previously testing an unliveried bike before Christmas.

Looks like Ducati finally fired the sleezy Gibernau, although there were some rumors he’ll stay with Ducati.

Now I can’t make you do it. You’ve got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think you’re gonna see a guy who will go that inch with you. You’re gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team, because he knows when it comes down to it, you’re gonna do the same for him.

Update: the FAZ released an interesting article about the game

Valentino Rossi believes Dani Pedrosa will be the biggest threat to him retaining his crown as the king of MotoGP – not Nicky Hayden. In October 2006 Hayden stopped Rossi’s run of five straight world titles in motorcycling’s premier series in dramatic circumstances at the last race.
But he singled out the American’s youthful Honda team-mate as the man to watch in 2007 after the Spaniard ran Rossi closest in Jerez testing last week.

Check out this amazing website for further info about Rossi, the Moto GP circus and more race facts.

One of the closest MotoGP World Championships in history heads into its final stage this weekend as the series heads out to Malaysia for the first of a five-race spell across three continents. Races at Sepang, Phillip Island (Australia), Motegi (Japan), Estoril (Portugal) and Valencia (Spain), will decide the destiny of a title which for the past five seasons has been lifted by Yamaha superstar Valentino Rossi. For the Italian to retain that honour he must turn around a 38-point deficit to current leader Nicky Hayden (Honda), although no fewer than nine riders still have the mathematical odds to take the honours.

Allmendinger recovered from a poor start that saw him demoted to the back of the grid to win a race that saw 35 of its 95-lap distance competed under full-course yellow flags, with the worst incident taking out and injuring Sebastien Bourdais.

The Frenchman lost control of his Newman-Haas car on the exit of turn two on the opening lap, and in attempting to block the oncoming Forsythe car of Paul Tracy, they touched wheels, sending the Canadian skywards before coming down on top of Bourdais.

Tracy suffered two punctures such was the force in which it returned to terra firma while Bourdais, clearly dazed by carrying a ChampCar on his head, pulled off at the next corner and immediately requested medial attentions.

No word came from the Frenchman over the radio to Newman-Haas and anxiety kicked in. However, the medics soon confirmed that he was slowly regaining consciousness before being taken to hospital where checks found no serious injuries and was later discharged.

“I had no idea that Paul was there,” Bourdais said. “His left front made contact with my right rear, and he went up in the air and landed on top of me.

“My head was knocked from side to side on the side rest, and I must have lost consciousness, because the next thing I remember was being stopped on the grass and the safety team running towards me,” he added.

Allmendinger also made contact in the mayhem and dropped to the back. He and Tracy pitted for new tyres while Oriol Servia and Justin Wilson battled for the lead. The pit strategy and numerous other yellow flags would allow Allmendinger to scythe his way through the field and would capitalise on Wilson’s late retirement with steering failure to take the win.

Junqueira would finish second while Servia inherited third when Mario Dominguez and Britain’s Dan Clarke took each other out whilst fighting for the final podium place.

Rossi

The Doctor fractured his right wrist and ankle in a high-speed fall in the opening practice session in Assen, and despite completing only four laps in Friday’s practice session and qualifying last, the Italian fought back to finish a miraculous eighth.

A mixture of pain killers and pure adrenalin enabled Rossi to pick off the riders one-by-one, and on certain laps, the No46 was able to peel off lap times similar to those of the leaders. His eighth position was rewarded with eight points, but with championship leader Nicky Hayden taking the win, Rossi now finds himself 46 points adrift going into this weekend’s British GP.

“We have a lot of work to do to improve the situation with my wrist and try to reduce the swelling and heal the bone as much as possible,” explains Rossi. “It would be better to have a month now to recover but we are racers and we have to go straight to the next race, which is a pity.

“Anyway I hope we can improve it as much as possible so that I can ride well at Donington,” he added. “For sure I won’t be at full fitness, but we have five days to improve. Colin showed that the bike is working really well so hopefully it will be like this at Donington also for both of us.”

Donington has always been a happy hunting ground for Rossi, winning six of the past seven races there, and the Italian is hoping that his knowledge of the circuit will help him to pull off a strong result.

Donington is like a second home Grand Prix for me and I hope the fans give me all the usual support because I need all the help I can get right now,” he said. “It’s going to be a big challenge for me to stand on the top of the podium on Sunday, but as long as my hand continues to improve throughout the week, then I think we can try!

The Schu Factor

Renault’s Fernando Alonso took his maiden Canadian Grand Prix victory at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday ahead of Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) and Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) to make it four straight pole to podium wins; moving to 84 points to open his championship lead to 25 over Schumacher.

Defending champion Alonso became only the second driver in F1 history to finish on the top two podium steps in 10 consecutive grands prix – the first of course being Michael Schumacher himself with 10 successive top-two finishes.

“The race was quite difficult because off-line there was a lot of dirt and dust coming from the tyres,” said Alonso. ” If you go a little bit off-line you lose one or two seconds and we saw a lot of this type of incident throughout the race, so it was not easy to keep the concentration, leading the race with a nice gap but never confident on any of the laps.

“It was good, perfect all weekend. Obviously, without the safety cars, the gaps would have been much bigger, an easier race but you know the safety car sometimes helps you, sometimes not.”

Renault team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella came through fourth after jumping the lights at take-off, losing his second on the grid to Raikkonen and incurring a drive-through penalty while Felipe Massa (Ferrari), pulled off a one-stop strategy to take fifth qualifying tenth.

Scoring his first points of the season, Jarno Trulli (Toyota) converted his solid qualifying performance into sixth place, holding off a late charge from BMW’s Nick Heidfeld.

The race of the day was surely David Coulthard who suffered a ten-place penalty after Red Bull decided to change his engine before the race; starting at the back of the grid. The Scot showed some of his old tenacity to hold on through the chaos and steal the final point from Jenson Button (Honda) after he ran messily through the final chicane; Coulthard lining him up on the inside before the final chicane.

NOT SO LUCKY THIS TIME

Last year Kimi Raikkonen inherited the lead late in the Canadian GP when Fernando Alonso ran wide exiting the final chicane; falling victim to the Wall of Champions and presenting the Finn a win.

But this year his run of bad luck began early when he lost several seconds in his first pit after the crew had a problem replacing his right rear; a clutch problem in his second costing him even more.

Falling twenty seconds off the pace luck again shined his way when, with ten laps remaining, the safety car came out – eliminating Alonso’s twenty second lead. The Finn was behind the one-lap down Jarno Trulli as everyone piled up together, but the Italian was not paying too much attention when the safety car went in.

By the time he got messily past, Alonso had already put five seconds between them and with only two laps remaining it was unlikely that the seemingly quicker McLaren could take the Renault.

This was made certain when Raikkonen, in his second last pass through the hairpin, strayed onto the tyre debris and ran wide, allowing Michael Schumacher through for second.

“A tough race in a way but due to the beginning, it was sort of pre-decided and at a certain moment I just had to drive according to the situation which I did,” said the seven time champion. “Obviously when the safety car came out, we went a little bit more on the attack and luckily we gained a position.

“I wished the race could have kept on going for a bit longer. We didn’t have a perfect weekend but we managed to have a good result finally, so we go from here on.”

ANOTHER HOME GP TO FORGET

Jenson Button had an awful time in his home Silverstone GP and Jacques Villeneuve had a similar fate in store, but at least with Button there was never really any hope.

Villeneuve was solid all weekend at the circuit named after his father but the same safety car that gave Kimi Raikkonen hope was the end of the Canadian’s, brought on when he slammed into a wall after trying to take Ralf Schumacher Toyota on the outside into the back straight.

Ralf Schumacher also had a forgetful race after suffering from grip and brake problems all race long – also suffering a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit-lane – finally retiring with seven laps to go.

Super Aguri’s Takuma Sato had a minor run in with a wall and was forced to retire with only two laps remaining for him while Rubens Barrichello (Honda) and Super Aguri team-mate Franck Montagny also retired early.

ROSBERG STILL RAW

Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren) was the next in line to complain about Williams rookie Nico Rosberg after Rubens Barrichello and his own team-mate Mark Webber criticised him after Saturday’s qualifying when after just one lap the young German contacted the Colombian in the last chicane.

Montoya appeared to be through on the inside of the exit turn, but Rosberg insisted; forcing himself into the Wall of Champions.

After an nose-cone change from the contact, Montoya later scraped the same wall and retired with a rear-right suspension failure.

“One thing is racing hard,” said Montoya. “If you wanna touch wheels, I don’t mind. But I had Rosberg. I was on the inside of the corner and that corner; two cars just don’t fit.”

The 75th edition of the Dutch TT will represent the dawn of a new era for the Assen circuit following the decision to shorten its length from 5.997m to a more traditional 4,750m, pulling it in line with the majority of other race tracks in MotoGP.

Riders will no longer battle to beat the legendary two-minute barrier, the S-Curve, Witterdiep, Madijk and Ossebroeken corners are no more and the spirit and history of Assen has been lost forever.

“In the past Assen was one of my favourite tracks and it was always a great, great emotion to ride a MotoGP bike at the limit there,” explains five-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi. “Sadly the track has been changed so I am not as excited about it as usual, because it seems from reports that some of the ‘Assen magic’ has gone.”

However, all is not lost as designers have done their best to retain Assen’s flowing characteristics by replacing the Northern Loop with a series of corners that incorporates the existing Haarbocht, Ossebroeken and Strubben corners.

The Haarbocht corner will have a tighter angle as it opens out into a stadium section similar to the long opening corner at Shanghai, incorporating the old Ossebroeken corner, which has been brought in, and linking up with the old Strubben curve.

“It will be interesting to see how the track is without the Northern Loop because that was a very characteristic section of the circuit, with high camber and left-right switches,” says Andrea Zugna, Data Engineer for Colin Edwards.

“I suppose the first section of the circuit will now be similar to China, with a series of tight right-handers from turns one to four causing strain on the right hand side of the tyre, and that will also make it physically demanding on the riders.”

The Texan Tornado is also a fond admirer of the old course, as it will now be called, for he has won numerous races there from his Superbike days. “Like a lot of the riders I have a lot of affection for the old Assen circuit and I hope it hasn’t lost too much of its character,” he said.

Ducati d’Antin rider Alex Hofmann has been offered the opportunity of his career following the news that he has been called up to replace the injured Sete Gibernau on the official Ducati Desmosedici GP06 at this weekend’s Dutch TT at Assen.

The German rider spent two years with the Bridgestone-shod Kawasaki team before losing his place to Frenchman Randy de Puniet. His MotoGP career looked in doubt before Luis d’Antin offered him a ride on the satellite Dunlop-shod Ducati Desmosedici this season.

Despite switching tyre manufacturers, Hofmann has good knowledge of the bike and the Bridgestone and is eager to get to Assen. “I’m excited and so happy! Having the possibility to race on the official DucatiDesomosedici is an unbelievable opportunity and I will give it 100%.

“I know this motorcycle well, I also know the evolution level of the Bridgestone tyres that I developed until the Valencia GP of the 2005 Championship, with which I had a good feeling that I hope to get back from the first laps I will make in Assen,” he added.

Hofmann will be replaced by Spanish rider Ivan Silva, who riders for the Luis d’Antin’s team in the Extreme category of the Spanish Championship.