It all started at Ducati for Gabbarini and Stoner.

Cristian Gabbarini, the longtime crew chief for Casey Stoner, has been promoted to a senior role in the Honda MotoGP team structure after Stoner's retirement. Gabbarini was Stoner's top wrench from 2007-10 at Ducati and 2011-12 at Honda, tuning Stoner to two World Championships.

Gabbarini will serve as a liaison between HRC and the Repsol Honda team, working closely with rookie Marc Marquez in 2013. The expected move comes as Marquez is bringing his crew chief, Santi Hernandez, from Moto2 into the Repsol Honda MotoGP garage next season. But the rest of Stoner's crew will stay put, turning wrenches and poring over laptops with Marquez.

"This is not an easy job and quite scary, also because it is the first time that the Japanese have allowed a European to do a job like this," Gabbarini told British media.