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The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, April 19, 2019 20 By Sarah Passingham TV Media Rev your engines: A much- anticipated new season of the auto-obsessed review and challenge series "Top Gear" premieres Thursday, April 25, on BBC America. Returning as hosts are actor and car enthu- siast Matt LeBlanc ("Friends"), journalist Rory Reid and fellow automotive journalist Chris Harris. All three have been "Top Gear" presenters since 2016, but this is the last go-round for both LeBlanc and Reid. This season finds them traveling around the world, from the fjords of Norway to Sri Lan- ka's mountain peaks and back to Britain again to put unique vehicles to some unique tests. "Westworld" actor James Marsden helps kick off the season as its first studio guest, while LeBlanc and Har- ris are in Norway, where they test out the Porsche Pana- mera Turbo Sport Turismo and the Ferrari GTC4Lusso. Reid spends the "Top Gear" premiere making a brand- new British mountain using the compact Suzuki Ignis to haul rocks with some help from Sabine Schmitz in a simi- larly tiny car, the Fiat Panda Cross. Throughout the sea- son, they put some of the best ordinary cars to the test, but they also make time to ex- plore every possible feature of the incredibly luxe Rolls- Royce Phantom to see if it holds up to its title as the best luxury car, as decreed by the U.K. Car of the Year Awards. If a high-speed challenge is more your thing, don't worry, "Top Gear" has pushed the envelope yet again with an extreme-speed challenge in Season 26. Inspired by the government's plans for its HS2 high-speed train line connecting London and northern England, Harris puts the new BMW M5 to a speed test. For commuters who pre- fer wheels to rails, the out- come could be both helpful and entertaining. Don't miss the extreme au- tomotive hijinks of the Sea- son 26 premiere of "Top Gear," Thursday, April 25, on BBC America. Matt LeBlanc hosts "Top Gear" B/The Pine Shop 6x7.5 realtalk

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