Iannone keeps crew chief, Romagnoli stays at Ducati

Andrea Iannone will bring current crew chief Marco Rigamonti from Pramac to the Factory Ducati MotoGP team next year.

Rigamonti, like Iannone, is already contracted directly to Ducati - with the factory keen to keep the partnership intact.

Rigamonti has worked for Ducati since 2004, with his first race team role alongside Max Biaggi at Sterilgarda Ducati in the 2008 World Superbike Championship. Rigamonti was later placed at Pramac as crew chief for Aleix Espargaro, occupying the same role for Randy de Puniet (2011), Hector Barbera (2012) and then Iannone.

Iannone is taking the place of Cal Crutchlow in the official Ducati team, where he will ride alongside Andrea Dovizioso.

Crutchlow is joining LCR Honda next year. His current crew chief Daniele Romagnoli - who moved with the Englishman from Tech 3 - will remain at Ducati, where he is expected to continue as a crew chief at either Pramac or Avintia.

Romagnoli was previously crew chief to Colin Edwards at the Factory Yamaha MotoGP team, being promoted to team manager for Jorge Lorenzo in 2008 and 2009. Despite winning five races and helping Lorenzo to second in the MotoGP Championship, Romagnoli wanted a return to a more hands-on role for 2010 and joined Tech 3 as Moto2 crew chief. Romagnoli then returned to MotoGP when Crutchlow joined Tech 3 in 2011.

With Dovizioso and Iannone at the Factory team, plus Danilo Petrucci and Yonny Hernandez at Pramac, the only 2015 Ducati seat still to be officially confirmed is alongside Hector Barbera at Avintia. Frenchman Mike di Meglio currently has the seat.

Avintia, which has already received one Ducati for the remainder of this season, will continue to be the only Ducati team running the standard Open class ECU software next year.

One of the most talked about Open entries in 2015 is for Moto3 title contender Jack Miller. Casey Stoner's former crew chief Christian Gabbarini will return to frontline duty to oversee Miller's MotoGP debut with the LCR Honda team.

Gabbarini joined Honda from Ducati with Stoner for 2012, the pair winning a second title before the Australian retired at the end of 2013. Gabbarini was then promoted to become one of the few non-Japanese HRC Engineers.

Over at the new Marc VDS MotoGP team, Chris Pike will be crew chief for Scott Redding next year. Pike presently works with Jonathan Rea at the Ten Kate Honda WSBK team.

Redding is expected to have the same Ohlins suspension/Brembo brakes package as the factory Honda team.