Chaz Davies has been given the Hoffer ride in Sundays race, he has been given virtually no time to prepare but it'll be interesting to see how he acquits himself compared to the other wild cards Roger Lee and Miguel DuHamel.
Printable View
Chaz Davies has been given the Hoffer ride in Sundays race, he has been given virtually no time to prepare but it'll be interesting to see how he acquits himself compared to the other wild cards Roger Lee and Miguel DuHamel.
sweeeeeeeeeeet :D :D
tis gonna be tough for him, but what a chance!
Good luck to the lad, he and Westy, once 250 privateers struggling along.. Amazing how breaks come about, unfortunately Hoffmeister has a break of a different kind :(
Have just been watching the session live on Eurosport, apparently Luis D'Antin came to Chaz shortly before the session and offered him the ride since the crew are around, just told him to have fun and not worry about results. It's his first time on the bike, first time at Laguna Seca, first ever MotoGP ride obviously, no set up time clearly...
Casey (who is a big friend of Chaz from their British 125/250 championship days) was interviewed and said he'd heard about a minute before he went out that Chaz was riding :)
Anyway, it was something of a learning curve - early on in the session he was about six seconds a lap off the pace, unsurprising in the circumstances. However, he chipped away each time, getting a feel for the bike and learning the track too (which is a daunting one), and was getting blue sectors each time basically, improving by fair chunks lap-by-lap. By the end he was 3.4s off Casey's time, and just 0.7s behind Miguel DuHamel who was second to last and of course knows the track intimately.
I would say, for a first MotoGP ride on a new track at zero minutes notice, that that's pretty good. His best time was right at the end of the session so there's plenty more to come off that time too, I reckon.
Well done, Chaz :)
Us Brits (and bike fans in general) needed a pick-up after Ollie Bridewell's death earlier today, and watching one of our young talents get to grips with a Ducati at a new track for his debut certainly helped. Don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting miracles on Sunday (if he finishes, that's good work) but that cheered me slightly on a dark day.
Luis D'Antin just found a guy that could fit into the Hoff's leathers and gave him the ride :p : seriously though, best of luck to him just finishing the race will be something.
Hodgson is also at Laguna wildcarding in the AMA for Corona Extra Honda. Maybe he would have been a better choice, but D'Antin and Hodgson are not the best of friends.
is Hoffman not riding? if not, why?
He was hit by Guintoli at the Corkscrew and broke his left hand.
Great to see him get a chance to show what he can do.
great to see him have a change, have fun chas
also, get well soon hoff
Terrible luck for Hoffman and uncharacteristic of Guintoli to have such brain fade. Best of luck to Chaz. It's a terrific opportunity for him and I hope he can really enjoy it. His first session is most impressive considering his preparation.