Matt LeBlanc Has Spoken Properly About His Top Gear Job For The First Time

The former Friends star has spoken about his new role as a Top Gear presenter for the first time, shining a little light on what we can expect from the BBC's revamped car show
Matt LeBlanc Has Spoken Properly About His Top Gear Job For The First Time

Yesterday the BBC made the shock announcement that Matt LeBlanc would be joining Chris Evans as the new host of Top Gear. The news came completely out of the blue, and then a later tweet also all-but-proved Chris Harris’ involvement in the show.

This morning LeBlanc went live on the Chris Evans breakfast radio show to talk publicly about his appointment for the first time, and while it wasn’t a particularly illuminating interview we did get a few ideas about what to expect from the new show.

One of LeBlanc’s first comments was “I’m looking forward to mashing up some cars together!” So anyone who thinks the new show is going to be totally straight-edged can probably think again. TG’s classic road trips around the world are likely to feature in some capacity, as Evans asked if LeBlanc had an up-to-date passport, “because we’re going to need that a lot.” South Africa sounds like the first destination on the team’s schedule.

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Evans then asked about LeBlanc’s car history, with the chat quickly focusing on the former Friends star’s love for Porsche (he owns a 2011 911 GT2 RS):

I had a Ferrari, and it was a great car, and I’ve had a lot of other cars too, but the thing about the Porsche, is it just feels like the most practical real-world supercar… it does everything. You can go to the store in it, it’s not too ostentatious. And the rear-engined car - nothing comes off the apex like a rear-engined car. You can go to power quicker, I think, in a rear-engined car. You have to go in easy on the brakes, you can’t really trail brake too hard or it’ll swing around on you, but you can pick up the throttle quicker.

Star guests will also feature in the new show, with LeBlanc claiming F1 driver Romain Grosjean has already asked to come on the show. Expect the celebrity lap times to continue also, as LeBlanc says his Episodes co-star Stephen Mangan wants to appear in order to beat the American’s fastest lap time.

The new Top Gear episodes are expected to air in May, and Matt LeBlanc signed off the interview by saying “I am so honoured and thrilled, I can’t wait to get going. I think we’re gonna have a great time and I couldn’t think of a better guy to do it with.”

Now that the shock has worn off, what do you make of the appointment?

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Comments

Anonymous

Bring back Clarkson.

That’s what I think of it.

02/05/2016 - 13:11 |
3 | 5
Jorge Migguel

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Why? He’s starting another show.

02/05/2016 - 13:20 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

You could say that Evans got some…

FRIENDS.

02/05/2016 - 13:12 |
81 | 3
James W

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Something tells me you don´t have many

02/05/2016 - 13:15 |
12 | 5
Willie

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

No one told me the show was gonna be this waaay…

02/05/2016 - 15:31 |
5 | 0
Anonymous

Just fire Chris Harris.

02/05/2016 - 13:14 |
3 | 9
DrChicane

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

keep harris, matt and swap evans for sabine.

02/05/2016 - 13:28 |
6 | 1
Eric Mark X

I think TG v3.0 could now have a chance of being a reasonable alternative right out of the box.

02/05/2016 - 13:20 |
20 | 2

Thank you sir. I’m not the only one..

02/05/2016 - 13:28 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Am I the only one around here who’s looking forward to how’s the new TG gonna be?

02/05/2016 - 13:27 |
11 | 1
Anonymous

I had a feeling that they would try to bring him on when he popped up a few weeks ago on the specialty show they have been airing

02/05/2016 - 13:37 |
0 | 0
CrozOver

What happend to Sabine?

02/05/2016 - 13:47 |
2 | 1

Yes, and Harris

02/06/2016 - 07:54 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Aaron paul? No? Okay

02/05/2016 - 13:54 |
6 | 3
Anonymous

Not raising my hopes up till the 1st episode

02/05/2016 - 13:58 |
0 | 0
Bond

An Amercican for a UK Top Gear.
No, just no.

02/05/2016 - 14:13 |
3 | 6
Anonymous

In reply to by Bond

Not like they are going to bring a German in or anything…

02/05/2016 - 15:20 |
2 | 0
mheffe

In reply to by Bond

Is that actually an issue for the UK? Hahahaha

02/06/2016 - 00:11 |
2 | 0