It’ll be a little awkward at first but overall an interesting watch

The Grand Tour is back on Amazon Prime Video later this year, with Francis Bourgeois confirmed to be among the new presenters almost a year after his involvement was first rumoured.

• Read More: Soundtrack Of My Life: Richard Hammond

Bourgeois, who shot to fame after posting trainspotting videos on social media, will be joined by YouTube duo Thomas Holland and James Engelsman, who run the popular Throttle House channel.

The upcoming six-episode series is set to travel around the globe, from the desert in Angola to Malaysia to California, and the official casting announcement comes two months after former Top Gear producer Jim Wiseman confirmed on a podcast appearance that the three would be hosting.

The original trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May appeared across six seasons from 2016 to 2024 after they departed Top Gear, with The Grand Tour‘s final season ending a run of over two decades working together.

Wiseman also revealed that they’d be taking part in a handing down ceremony with the new presenters, explaining: “Richard is in some VTs, and James is in some of them as well, which is completely different from what happened before, and it’s much nicer for it, and it’s just funny. The interaction between Richard and the new three is just hilarious.”

Clarkson also appeared in a clip shared by Prime Video on social media in which the TV personality “reviewed” CVs from potential hosts, selecting Bourgeois, Holland and Engelsman from the pile.

About leaving the show themselves, May said in 2023 that he felt they were getting a “bit old” for it, while Clarkson joked the following year, “We’ve run out of things to do and we’ve run out of places to go, and I was fat.”

“The saying ‘big shoes to fill’ spring to mind,” said Bourgeois about replacing them, adding, “Well, in this case it’ll be like Mo Farah running in Size 14 wellies – it’ll be a little awkward at first, perhaps blister-inducing, but will overall be an interesting watch.”

Holland quipped, “When I first heard they were rebooting The Grand Tour and replacing Clarkson, Hammond and May, I said ‘only a moron would take that job.’”

Engelsman added, “I’ve worked with Thomas for almost a decade making car films. Who knew that all this time, the one ingredient that was missing was a Francis Bourgeois? Let the car adventures commence.”

On Throttle House, Holland and Engelsman boast over three million followers and 75million annual viewers. The former specialises in high-performance vehicles and also works as an amateur race car driver and automotive journalist, while the latter is a car enthusiast who owns a Toyota Century limousine originally built for Japanese royalty.

While Bourgeois is best known for his interest in trains, he’s also a mechanical engineer with experience at Rolls-Royce, and can identify makes of vehicles by only their engine sound.

Wiseman said of the TikTok star, “Francis is the surprise package for me because I’d only seen his train videos and I hadn’t realised how into cars he is. And the choice of cars for the challenges are very specific and very good, and they give something completely new to it.”

He said of the new presenters as a group, “They’re very good. I’ve been watching them from the edit for the past few months. I think it’ll work, I hope it does. The three presenters are great, and the learning curve they’ve gone on is great; the difference between the start and the end of the series is great.”

The seventh season of The Grand Tour is set to air on Amazon Prime Video in 2026.

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