Cristian Gabbarini: Tough to turn down Scott Redding crew chief role

Casey Stoner’s highly regarded ex-crew chief Cristian Gabbarini has admitted it was incredibly tough to tell Scott Redding that he wouldn’t be the British rider’s technical mastermind in the 2015 MotoGP world championship.

Redding, who will ride a factory Honda RC213V for Marc VDS Racing next season, had made Gabbarini his number one target to be his chief engineer next season. The pair worked together on Honda’s production RCV1000R project in 2014 and after winning the premier class title with Stoner in 2007 and 2012, Redding was eager to continue with Gabbarini.

But HRC has assigned the Italian to work with rising Aussie star Jack Miller, who is making the leap into MotoGP from Moto3 to ride for Lucio Cecchinello’s LCR Honda squad.

Gabbarini reckons informing Redding of his 2015 plans was one of the hardest conversations of his career and he told MCN: “It was very difficult to tell him but you must be a man and tell the truth. When I was sure about my future I asked for a face-to-face meeting with Scott and I explained to him my reasons.

“He is a clever guy and he understood. We have zero problems and I like Scott and it would have been good to work with him.”

Redding also approached Valentino Rossi’s legendary ex-crew chief Jerry Burgess before clinching a deal to work with Chris Pike, who is moving from World Superbikes after working with Jonathan Rea.