The arms race for the 2027 Supersport World Championship: Where does KTM stand with the 990 RC R?

No other world championship on the circuit involves as many manufacturers as the Supersport class. This season, we’ll see the European brands Ducati, MV Agusta and Triumph, the Japanese manufacturers Honda, Kawasaki and Yamaha, as well as the Chinese manufacturers QJ Motor and ZX Moto.

KTM could join these eight in 2027; development of the 990 RC R for the racetrack has been in full swing for months. One thing is clear: we won’t be seeing a factory team from Mattighofen in the Supersport World Championship; these are reserved for the MotoGP paddock and off-road racing. However, the Austrian manufacturer is so keen on the class that it has appointed the Freudenberg team as its test team. With Jonas Folger and Luca Grünwald, two established riders are on board, both of whom have a wealth of knowledge and experience with KTM.

Luca Grünwald (li.) mit Teamchef Carsten Freudenberg

Foto: freudenberg

In the Supersport category, three new bikes are currently being developed for 2027: Triumph is launching the Street Triple RS with a larger engine, at 800 cc instead of the previous 765 cc. And Ducati is making the Panigale V2 – which has been on sale since 2025 – race-ready, with a capacity of 890 cc instead of 955 cc.

SPEEDWEEK.com asked team boss Carsten Freudenberg where KTM stands in this arms race. “That’s difficult to assess,” mused the Saxon. “You have to bear in mind that we’ve only been out on track days, where there are 35 to 40 riders on the track and we don’t get ten laps in a row. And then it can happen that we fit new tyres, but can’t make the most of their performance in the first two laps because there are riders on the track who need to be overtaken cleanly.”

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Comparisons with the competition are misleading

“In the Euro Moto, we’ve seen that a top-five finish is possible,” Freudenberg noted. “We’ve now also received a new clutch from Suter, which works better in detail in conjunction with the engine brake. It’s all about lots of little details, but I can’t say straight away where we stand. We’ll have to see if we can race in Euro Moto again this year. But even there, it’s difficult to make comparisons because they’re all racing under the open regulations with 150 PS, whilst we’ll be racing under the future rules with 130 PS. Of course, the aim is to get up there at the front. But you have to be honest – all the manufacturers have needed time.”

Whilst QJ Motor has been struggling in the Supersport World Championship for years without much success, and MV Agusta has had no say in the matter since the Swiss team led by Andrea Quadranti switched to Yamaha, the new brand ZX Moto has catapulted itself to the top in its debut season: Valentin Debise has already won six races and, with 209 points, sits second in the overall standings at the summer break behind Albert Arenas (Yamaha, 291).

A KTM is a KTM, a motorbike from Austria – and that’s how it should stay.

Carsten Freudenberg

This also commands Freudenberg’s respect, but he points out a huge difference: “We develop our motorbike – and we’re very proud of that – using our own ideas. We have our own philosophy; ZX Moto takes a different approach – that’s why they’re so fast. They’ve picked out the best bits from all the motorbikes currently in the World Championship and then put their bike together. That’s not how we do it; we’ve brought our own motorbike to market. We develop our own race kit and don’t look at which swingarm Yamaha uses or which fork Ducati has. We do our own thing. But that’s why the Chinese, with Evan Bros – a top World Championship team that’s been competing at the very highest level for years – are so far ahead. Everyone knows how quickly the Chinese can copy something – we take a different approach. We’re running a KTM project. A KTM is a KTM, a motorbike from Austria – and that’s how it should stay.”