article: The relaunch featured Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc driving Reliant three-wheelers from London to Blackpool and actor Jesse Eisenberg and chef Gordon Ramsay tackling the Top Gear track. The new hosts were signed up after the old team left after an infamous fracas between lead presenter Jeremy Clarkson and a producer. Initial ratings for the episode will not be known until Monday morning. However, Evans said earlier in the week he would be "disappointed" with anything fewer than five million viewers for the show's first episode. The presenter opened the show saying: "Welcome to Top Gear with our all-new, improved audience." Clarkson was fired from Top Gear in March last year after he punched a producer following a row about the provision of food late at night while filming on location. Evans made a jibe about the incident at the start of the episode, adding: "We don't make jokes about catering on this show any more." Another joke referencing Clarkson's departure was made when Evans bragged he had "won custody" of masked driver The Stig. The revamp featured many of the same elements the show is best known for including a profile of a supercar and a head-to-head challenge between the presenters. The Guardian's Stuart Heritage commented on the similarities during a film profiling the new Dodge Viper ACR saying: "It's well shot. It's got the same unearned swagger. It's presented by a man in a car comparing stuff to stuff, then leaving a pause, then accelerating, then shouting. It is identical." Unlike previous series, the "star in a reasonably priced car" segment was updated to feature two "stars in a rally cross car" compete on a new Top Gear track including an off-road dirt track, water section and a jump. Eisenberg and Ramsay were the first to tackle the course, with Ramsay scoring the faster time of the two. Alex Robbins, the Telegraph's motoring journalist, said he was not sure if the format should have been changed: "One of the best bits about this section was the juxtaposition of celebs in something deeply forgettable. The Mini doesn't work for that remit, because it's just a bit too cool. "I mean, you could imagine Eisenberg in a Mini in LA. The entertainment value of seeing him in something dreary has been lost," he said. He concluded the show was "a solid first effort", but added "it could have done with less of the gimmickry and more space to show off the cars themselves". In his commentary, the Independent's Christopher Hooton said: "The budget and production values were pretty much the same/as high [as previous series] and the show felt very similar, but the original trio were its heart and it needed to take more of a departure without them, not trade off past glories." Meanwhile the Huffington Post's Caroline Frost said: "Matt LeBlanc's laid-back style when left on his own gives a glimmer of hope." The Daily Mail's Quentin Letts said LeBlanc was "a success" and the show was "reasonably entertaining". But he added: "It has lost its spark of genius. It
summary: Motoring show Top Gear has returned to BBC Two with its new line-up of hosts.