Almost two years after Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond bowed out of The Grand Tour, a new trio are getting behind the wheel in the next season of the beloved motoring programme.

Comprising viral social media star Francis Bourgeois and Throttle House duo James Engelsman and Thomas Holland, the trio will be tackling motoring's most pressing, and delightfully absurd, questions.

While the trio were first announced earlier this year, it was quite the lengthy process before The Grand Tour found its new hosts, as the hunt began in 2024.

In an exclusive interview with Radio Times (which you can watch above), Holland said: "James and I got an email in June 2024 and that started a process of chemistry testing which lasted quite a while until Francis finally joined and we were like, 'Thank god, here he is!'"

Bourgeois explained that he had received an email in December 2024 that was rather "ambiguous and a car show was hinted at".

"I went to a meeting and saw some quite recognisable faces, those who have been a part of the show in its previous iterations," he said. "So immediately I knew what was going on."

He continued: "We never got a 'You got the job', it was a steady sense of realisation. And throughout the whole process, up until some of the last chemistry tests, I thought, 'Well, worst case, there's probably about 100 people we're up against at the minute'. And then it was clarified it was just us and that was probably the biggest shock."

But the trio got on like a house on fire, as Engelsman told : "It was just sort of sparks. We tested with so many people. It was a lot of really great people. But with Francis it was just another level. It just clicked immediately."

Across the six episodes, which are now available to watch on Prime Video, the trio get up to all sorts – from crossing the Angolan desert in track cars to heading to California to test cutting-edge performance cars, the latter of which takes place in the first episode.

Each of them in a different high-speed car, the trio find themselves on an airfield racing even speedier jets as they test who can make it to the finish line first.

"It's just this constant state of feeling," Bourgeois said. "I suppose because you are in such a flow state when driving, everything is being focused on just absorbing what the car is doing, making sure you're on the right line, braking at the right place.

"So once you can reintroduce feelings afterwards, you do have a bit of that mental contrast."

Engelsman added: "As a little boy in Bushey Heath, the idea of then saying, 'See you Zippy' as I walk away from his jet and go back in the California desert [is amazing]!"

All episodes of The Grand Tour are available to watch now on Prime Video. You can sign up to Amazon Prime Video for a 30-day free trial.

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