Hopefully Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May weren’t getting used to “The Grand Tour” essentially having no competition from other motoring shows. Because it looks like the BBC’s “Top Gear” might finally be ready to take the fight to “Amazon Prime’s” most-popular new show.
“Top Gear” released a new trailer for Season 24 full of clips that prove the show went back to the drawing board after a tumultuous relaunch last season.
The video confirmed our speculation that now lead presenter Matt LeBlanc will be joined by Chris Harris and Rory Reid for most of the show’s segments. The two had appeared mostly on “Extra Gear” last year, but it appears fans’ cries for more of the talented reviewers have been answered.
That’s a good thing, because Ferrari might have been reluctant to let anybody other than Harris test an FXX-K at Daytona International Speedway.
It looks like “Top Gear” also placed a greater emphasis on production value for this season than it did in Season 23. During the Clarkson era, the show rose to mainstream prominence because of its filming style, but with “The Grand Tour’s” near-cinematic episodes, the bar’s been raised recently.
This is the second trailer for the new season released so far, but the first to give us a look at the the automotive side of the show. In the previous video, we got our first clue that Harris and Reid would be better utilized this season. It also gave us hope LeBlanc, Harris and Reid could bring back the show’s cartoon-like comedic sketches.
We sincerely hope “Top Gear” got its act together, and we aren’t setting ourselves up for disappointment. After all, competition breeds innovation, so we’re definitely in favor of having more than one quality motoring show.
