Cal Crutchlow resigned to losing crew chief for 2015

Cal Crutchlow has confirmed he will reluctantly split from crew chief Daniele Romagnoli when he ends his disappointing one-season career at Ducati next month.

The British rider had wanted to take Italian Romagnoli with him to the factory-spec RC213V he will ride in Lucio Cecchinello’s satellite Honda squad in 2015.

But Cecchinello’s current crew have been together since the 2008 season and the ex-racer has never had any intention of breaking up his garage staff, which is led by experienced crew chief Christophe Bourguignon.

Crutchlow has worked with Romagnoli since he moved from World Superbikes into the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad back in 2011, but he has been told none of his crew can make the LCR move with him.

Crutchlow, who is quitting Ducati halfway through a two-year deal after a disastrous stint on the Desmosedici GP14, told MCN: “Obviously my preferred choice was to stay with Daniele but due to a lot of circumstances I couldn’t take him.

“I am happy with what I am getting and I am going to get a good crew whatever happens. It will be difficult to leave Daniele. I have worked with him for four years now and he has always had my back and he knows what I like. But things change.”

Cecchinello believes his team’s vast knowledge of the RC213V and the working systems at HRC will speed up his learning curve in 2015 and the Italian told MCN: “We have decided not to change anything because since 2008 this package has been working. They get on very well and they understand each other and there is no point to change.”