How we’ve tuned up Top Gear

As Matt LeBlanc returns with the first Top Gear after Chris Evans, he and his co-hosts reveal the tweaks they’ve made to give the show its va-va-voom back

After last year’s car- crash series, Top Gear roars back t h is week with another h igh- octane relaunch. The BBC2 motoring show has shunted aside several of 2016’s innovations in a bid to focus on cars and fun rather than the controversies and fallouts.

The multiple- presenter approach has been ditched leaving Friends star Matt LeBlanc and motoring journalists Rory Reid and Chris Harris in charge. This marks a return to the days when Top Gear was fronted by another male trio, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. Head host Chris Evans has gone – he lasted just six episodes last year. The Stig returns but 2016’s other two presenters Sabine Schmitz and Eddie Jordan will now appear only occasionally.

The ‘star in a car’ section returns but the celebs, including James McAvoy, won’t be rally driving in a Mini Cooper – instead they’ll be at the wheel of a flashy Toyota GT86.

Fans will be pleased to know, though, that they can rely on seeing the usual line- up of supercars along with an abundance of crazy stunts. A stand- out moment will be Matt’s thrilling high-speed ride in Montenegro in an Aston Martin DB11, pursued by police cars and a rapidresponse helicopter.

This week’s opening show sees Chris Harris take a rare Ferrari FXX K for a spin around Daytona racetrack in Florida, and the manufacturer may want to check the car for damage! ‘I was the first person to be allowed to drive it and was told that it wasn’t a car that should be drifted, a process where you lose traction in your rear wheels,’ explains Chris. ‘Well I did drift it and it was a full 11/10, out-of-body moment, a truly amazing experience.’

The full-throttle first episode also features a dangerous trek through subzero Kazakhstan in battered old cars that have clocked up nearly 500,000 miles. Matt, Rory and Chris are heading for Baikonur Cosmodrome, the site of first-man-in-space Yuri Gagarin’s 1961 Vostok spacecraft launch. ‘It seemed an appropriate place for the three of us to aim for, in our highmileage Mercedes, black London taxi and Volvo estate,’ says Rory. ‘These cars have covered distances roughly equivalent to a journey to the moon and back! Bits started falling off and I

had no heating in my taxi – my bottle of water froze solid.’

It seems to add up to a bright new start after the show’s recent problems – Clarkson, Hammond and May left in 2015 after Clarkson hit a producer, while Evans quit last summer when ratings plunged to an end- of-series low of 1.9 million viewers. Matt’s certainly in his element. ‘How much fun have I had? I’d give it ten out of ten. It’s about finding that winning formula – the perfect mix of beautiful cars, technical talk and comedy. I think we’ve got that balance right.’

Top Gear, tomorrow, 8pm, BBC2.

CHRIS HARRIS Made his name reviewing cars online, and says his dream machine is a £1.2m 1974 Porsche 911 GT3 RS. He hopes the new series avoids controversy. ‘We’re not solving Third World debt, just making entertainment.’ THE STIG A driving ace who clocks up scarily fast times on the test track while concealed behind a helmet and visor. Previous Stigs have been outed, this new one has driven anonymously since 2010.

RORY REID Won a public audition to become a Top Gear host last year. His biggest challenge on this series was racing a superyacht through rough seas – and trying to stomach the ‘exotic’ food in places like Kazakhstan. MATT LeBLANC The former Friends star and lifelong petrolhead reckons Top Gear is just a continuation of his acting career. ‘It’s like any other role I’ve played,’ he says. ‘I just act like a presenter!’