It was to be expected that KTM was preparing a new one 990 Duke Rafter the official presentation of the standard variant at the end of last 2023. What is not so predictable is that the Austrian brand has chosen the Mission Super Hooligan National Championshipspecifically the Mid-Ohio round held last weekend, to test a prototype of this new version.
To do this they had the services of Chris Fillmore, who competed in both heats of the test. During the course of the test, commentator Roger Hayden even dared to call this 990 Duke R a «KTM 990 pre-production»as our colleagues at Motorcycle argue in their report.
KTM 990 Duke R 2025: The brand has already registered the model
It is from minute 6:20 of the video above that we can see some details that make up this 990 Duke R prototype, highlighting the orange color of its chassis, typical of the R versions of the brand. Undoubtedly, this unit has the essential modifications to be able to compete in this type of tests, such as slick tires or the front fairing where the number is located.
Regarding the homologation document, we can see how it was on July 3 when KTM requested the registration of its new variant. It also confirms 94 KW of power, a little more than 126 HPor what is the same, 6 HP more than the standard version of the model declares in the same table. However, in the European version the 990 Duke is approved 123 hp of maximum power at 9,500 rpm and 103 Nm of torque at 6,750 rpm.
We still don’t know the rest of the details that will be included in this 990 Duke R, once KTM releases the civilian version of the model. It remains to be seen whether it will have improvements in its chassis, as well as revised equipment. We assume that all these details will be revealed in the next EICMA 2024at which time it is very likely that the orange brand will present this new variant of the current 990 Duke.
