BBC has revealed a Top Gear Season 23 trailer that gives us our first look at American actor Matt LeBlanc (“Friends,” “Episodes”) behind the wheel as one of the new presenters of the upcoming and eagerly-awaited return of Top Gear, the planet’s biggest motoring entertainment show. LeBlanc’s appointment marks the first time the show has ever had a non-British host in its 39-year history. Check out the trailer below!
In what promises to be an explosive cocktail of car-obsessed entertainers and cultural clashes, LeBlanc joins UK presenter Chris Evans as Top Gear premieres in the UK on May 8 and on BBC America later that month. Motorsport guru and Formula 1 commentator Eddie Jordan, world record-breaking German racing driver Sabine Schmitz, renowned motoring journalist and YouTube petrolhead Chris Harris, and car reviewer and TV presenter Rory Reid are joining Evans and LeBlanc for Top Gear Season 23.
The new team will cover the entire automotive spectrum and bring with them their own unique and very individual love of cars that will resonate with every type of Top Gear viewer, from the family who enjoy the entertainment values of the show, to aspirational car lovers and fanatical petrolheads.
The Golden Globe-winning star of the popular BBC comedy “Episodes,” Matt LeBlanc is already a familiar face to Top Gear viewers, having been a two-time guest on the show and the fastest celebrity to date around the Top Gear track in its reasonably priced car. LeBlanc also presented the recent standalone spin-off Top Gear: The Races, where he led fans through some of the most memorable racing moments from the previous 22 series.
Matt holds the record for the fastest ever celebrity lap of the famous Top Gear track, having appeared as a guest in Season 18 Episode 2 in February 2012, setting a still unbeaten 1 minute 42.1 second in the Kia C’eed. He also reappeared on the show in February 2013 when he was asked to test the new Kia C’eed on the track, against the old one.
