Hagberg: “I respond to 100% of all customer questions”
Alexander, we hope you enjoyed Christmas and the start into the new year with your family in Lisbon. How does it feel to celebrate in warmer conditions compared to your home country Sweden and what did you have for Christmas dinner?
Winter in Portugal is a lot milder (and snow-free) compared to Sweden. Which is enjoyable. We do get sunny days with up to 20 degrees even in December or January at times! Christmas dinner for me was a Portuguese tradition – bacalhau (codfish). There’s many ways to cook it, but we had a “com natas” creamy version.
You are one of the most famous XRAY drivers of all time. Your support for XRAY customers is second to none and you are doing a brilliant job. How much of your working time beside racing goes into customer support each and every day?
I sometimes spend several hours a day doing both office work and customer support for XRAY/HUDY. I do receive a consistent and quite large number of questions or feedback from customers on a daily basis which I try to respond to a 100% of them.
The upcoming race in Daun is a special one with so many entries and long days. You are used to this from other races (Snowbirds for example). What is your secret to always stay fit and mentally strong during such demanding days?
I drink a lot of coffee by habit, and try to eat well, and eat at least 3 times during the day to keep my blood sugar levels stable.
To keep this one short: What are your goals for 2026 when looking on ETS, TITC, and the IFMAR worlds?
My goal as a racer is to try and fight for the top positions at international races, which includes all of the above. My goal as an employee for XRAY is to try and keep the team and customers as happy possible with their racing/hobby!
Ratheisky: “This year`s IFMAR worlds in China will be the RC trip of my live”
You are very well known for racing multiple classes at big events – what is your gameplan for Daun and what are your expectations for the race?
Thanks 🙂 Even I had to remove F1 sadly its „only“2 classes left its 6 in the End as I have to take care on my kids. Gameplan? Learn the new car on carpet and show the young guns that I can still beat them. But I don’t want to set the goal to high. There is a stacked field of very good if not the best drivers I know atm. To answer it… Bot A mains would be a very good result to start the carpet season.
It looks like you have a pretty nice indoor track in Braunschweig for practice. Do you think this is an advantage over others who have no track available?
Even I like the Track in Braunschweig a lot im more there to hang out, wrench and help my kids. Mostly I run old tires from US until they are worn to have some value out of the money spent. I will start to test a bit more soon as the ETS is finished. Because we have some leftover tires then 😉 I made 2 packs with the ETS equipment so far. Should be enough ^^
You will travel to the IFMAR worlds with your family in April. Will this be the coolest RC trip of your life?
You can bet on that! Luckily, I visited this great place already end of last year and it was a blast. It will be the first time for my kids out of Europe. 2 World Championships entirely in the easter school vacations. We MUST use this once a lifetime chance. Most expensive trip I ever make in my life, but the experience and good memories will be worth every €. Now me AND my kida are goon „All in !!“
Izsay: My childhood dream came true with my new job at XRAY
Adam, you are working full time at XRAY now since a couple of months. How does it feel to be a part of such an iconic brand and how is live in Trencin for you so far?
It’s been amazing so far to work at XRAY, was my childhood dream to be able to call my hobby my job aswell and the life in Trencin is great also, nice place where i already spent a lot of days before i moved here to live.
The X4`26 seems to be a very strong car. What is your goal for the race in Daun in the very competitive Pro Stock class?
Obviously for Daun my goal is to have a great race in both Pro Stock and Modified classes. The X4’26 has been performing very well so far, and we had a great race with Soren already last weekend at TOS in Augsburg, so i’m looking forward to Daun to race again at the ETS after a long break.
As for most of you guys, 2026 is a world championship year again. What comes into your mind when you think about your last world championship (Gubbio) and what have you learned from this race which you want to do different in China?
We went for the Femca championship back in December to try to be as good prepared for the WC as possible and i’m feeling good for April and looking forward to it eventough we have a lot of other big in front us before that. About the last 2 worlds i have missed out on USA 2024 but i was in Gubbio 2022 in my first year with TC finished 3rd so my goal is to try to improve on that this year in China.
Ronnefalk: “Becoming parents is such an amazing feeling”
Hi David, happy new year! Before we talk about RC, ee would like to congratulate you and your wife on the birth of your son Colin. It must have been a fantastic Christmas and new year`s time at home. How is life so far with him and how do you feel as a father now?
Happy New Year! Thank you so much, it’s been a great Christmas break experiencing the first few weeks of Colin’s life for sure. Both Colin and Johanna are doing well which is the most important and even though it’s still only a few weeks since his birth we have seen a few different phases already. Such a fantastic feeling to become parents, the next step in life!
You had been very fast at last years carpet race in Wiener Neustadt. How confident are you for the race in Daun which is always a tricky one?
The last few weeks I’ve had time to organise and prepare my gear which is an important part of the job in order to go into the race season prepared. I had great speed at the ETS in Wiener Neustadt last year and I’m looking forward to improve on that for the race in Daun this coming weekend. I was already feeling good going into this race last year but unfortunately I had to sit out last minute as I got an infected appendix which needed to be removed. Feeling very good coming into the race this year anyway, especially after the test days we have had together with Alex, Adam, Marc, Pekko and JQ at my track in Sweden. Excited to attend the first carpet race with the X4’26 which has been working great!
As you will do the EOS/ETS double header in Daun, what does your schedule look like afterwards on the way to the IFMAR worlds in China?
Together with Xray we decided to put the focus on Touring Car until the Worlds in China, so that meant I sat out EOS in Daun this past weekend. Of course it’s always tough to skip races you enjoy doing but it’s also not possible to do them all. I prefer to go into the races well prepared and then this decision was the right one for sure. After ETS I will do the TITC in Bangkok, then the team will schedule a test session together in March on asphalt before the tripple header in Wiener Neustadt – 1/12 Worlds – Touring Car Worlds. Looking forward to the racing season to kick off, see you all at the ETS in Daun!
