BBC AMERICA

Top Gear will return to television a night earlier than previously scheduled. That announcement was made late last week with a new video. The new season will feature Matt LeBlanc as host.

BBC America also shared a press release detailing the new premiere night and season ahead. Check both the press release and the video out below.

BBC AMERICA will premiere the new season of Top Gear on a new date and night – Sunday, March 12, at 8/7c followed by after show Extra Gear.

HOSTS:

The car show sees Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris and Rory Reid at the helm, with appearances from German race ace Sabine Schmitz, F1 pundit Eddie Jordan, and the international man of mystery referred to only as ‘The Stig,’ because that’s his name.

ROAD TRIPS:

In this new seven-part season, Top Gear’s hosts journey across wildest Kazakhstan in cars with half a million miles on the clock, tackle old-school motorsport in Cuba, blast through the US’s wild west in the latest convertible supercars, and attempt to turn an ugly South Korean van into a luxury yacht to rival Monaco’s finest.

VEHICLES:

Matt, Chris and Rory also review the latest and greatest cars from around the globe, from the Ferrari FXX K to the Aston Martin DB11, from the incredible Bugatti Chiron to the new Ford GT. Oh, and an eight-wheeled, all-terrain monster from Russia, because no season is truly complete without an eight-wheeled, all-terrain monster from Russia.

GUESTS:

It’s all brought to you from Top Gear’s famous test track and studio, where a fresh crop of celebrities will attempt to impress with their driving skills. The season premiere features actor James McAvoy as guest.

SERIES HIGHLIGHTS:

A SUPERCAR FOR ALL SEASONS

Convertible supercars: very glamorous, but only really suitable for those handful of days each year when the sun’s shining and air is balmy-warm. Not so, according to Matt and Chris, who reckon the modern crop of convertible supercars make magnificent company, whatever the weather. So, armed with the very fast Lamborghini Huracan Spyder and Porsche 911 Turbo S convertible, they headed to Las Vegas, the starting point for a road trip that would encompass four seasons of challenges – and climate – in just two days. Is it possible to simultaneously suffer sunburn and frostbite?

JOINING THE HIGH-MILE CLUB

If you trawl the very saddest corners of the classifieds, it’s possible to find second-hand cars of truly staggering mileage. Obviously, no sane human would ever consider buying such a specimen, which is exactly why Matt, Chris and Rory were instructed to each purchase a used car with at least 480,000 miles on the clock – the equivalent of driving to the moon and back – and report for a show of endurance challenges to deepest Kazakhstan. That’s Kazakhstan, one of the largest, emptiest countries on the planet. The sort of place where breaking down doesn’t end with an annoying hour stuck on the hard shoulder waiting for the RAC, but an annoying 10 days stuck on the hard shoulder being eaten by wolves.

CUBAN MISSILES

For decades, the Caribbean island of Cuba has stood as a motoring time capsule, its streets a throwback to Fifties Americana. But now, at long last, Cuba is finally opening its doors to the western world. And western cars. So, with a generous budget of $6,215.75 (�5,000), Chris and Rory were each tasked with buying a preloved sports car to truly impress the Cubans. They then set out on a road trip from the Bay of Pigs to Havana, during which they somehow got embroiled in a spot of street racing, and history-making.

JOIN OUR CLUBSPORT

The VW Golf Clubsport S is a very fine hatchback. But at $43,510.25 (�35,000), it’s also a very expensive hatchback, especially considering it’s a hatchback with no rear seats. But what if it’s a hatchback capable of outpacing supercars of ten times the price? What then, eh? Rory Reid and Sabine Schmitz took the Golf to Germany’s fearsome N�rburgring circuit, with an ambitious plan to hunt down, and overtake, a million dollars’ worth of exotic supercar. Rory would take care of the complicated ‘counting’ business, while Sabine would get the easy job: driving.

THE SHAMAN, RELUCTANT HERO

If you’re in the market for a posh off-roader, now is a fine time to be alive, with Porsche, Audi, Land Rover, BMW and pretty much every other mainstream manufacturer delighted to relieve you of your cash in exchange for something large and vaguely all-terrain. But Matt LeBlanc reckons there’s another option for the thinking SUV buyer: Russia’s insane, eight-wheeled Avtoros Shaman. However, as he rapidly discovers on an otherwise entirely straightforward Isle Of Man road test, it’s a vehicle that comes with one minor inconvenience: being constantly called upon to rescue locals from peril…

I’LL TAKE YOUR BRAIN TO ANOTHER DIMENSION

A new series sees a new feature installed at the Top Gear test track. Just as Narnia had its wardrobe, the world’s most famous desolate airfield now has its Left-At-Hammerhead: a mysterious portal to a parallel dimension. And it fell to Matt LeBlanc and the new Aston Martin DB11 to give Left-At-Hammerhead its trial run. Where would it lead? And wherever it led, would Chris Harris be conveniently waiting on the other side in a fast Mercedes? (Answers: Montenegro. And: yes, obviously.)

FROM SSANGYONG TO SSANGYACHT

The SsangYong Rodius is widely regarded one of the ugliest cars ever to besmirch British roads. But, according to Rory Reid and literally no one else, it’s an eyesore with hidden potential. Specifically, the potential to shake up the stuffy, staid word of luxury yachting. Lacking the skills to turn people-carrier into superyacht, Rory called in a couple of acquaintances with more boating and mechanical expertise. Unfortunately, these acquaintances were Matt LeBlanc and Chris Harris.

ALFA BET

After years in the doldrums, Alfa Romeo looks to finally have rediscovered its long-lost mojo in the shape of the new, 500-horsepower Giulia saloon. Chris Harris wanted to know whether Italy’s answer to the BMW M3 lived up to its on-paper promise. Rory Reid wanted to know if the combination of Chris’s driving talent and the Giulia’s firepower could achieve in real life a driving stunt generally only attempted with the help of CGI. Everyone learned a lesson that day. And that lesson was ‘always make sure you have comprehensive damage cover.’

ARCADE FIREPOWER

Sure, your thousand-horsepower Ferraris might be very exciting to drive around a large, empty circuit, but let’s be honest: they’re frankly overpowered for real world driving. And by ‘real world driving’ we of course mean ‘picking up dots in a massive maze constructed of shipping containers’. Cue what we’re snappily calling the Top Gear Maze-Based Arcade Game Recreation Challenge. Rory Reid reckoned the perfect car for the job was the tiny, perky little Renault Twingo GT. Top Gear’s resident ghosts – otherwise known as Sabine Schmitz and Chris Harris – had other ideas. Game on!

Are you a fan of Top Gear? Will you watch the season premiere? Tell us what you think.