Top Gear line-up confirmed ahead of new Chris Evans show next year

Filming is scheduled to begin next Wednesday with more announcements coming in due course

Chris Evans will front a new team when the car show returns in May (Getty Images)

Chris Evans is not going to be presenting Top Gear on his lonesome after all. The new line-up of hosts who will take over from Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May has been chosen, with fresh faces selected from the public auditioning process.

Evans, who bagged the top job on the motoring show after Clarkson was axed following a “fracas” with a producer, has been searching for a team for months.

He told Nick Grimshaw on BBC Radio One that “there will be announcements pending” but stopped short of revealing any identities just yet.

Fans were invited to send in audition tapes, with the best hopefuls called down to Dunsfold Aerodrome for “full-on scripted multi-camera auditions”.

“Some people may have done a bit of telly, but they are from these auditions,” he said, adding that every tape was considered.

It is strongly rumoured that a female presenter will be joining the show, with Evans promising to shake off the "trio" format and do something "different" to his predecessors.

Evans also confirmed that shooting begins next Wednesday, with Top Gear reaching our living rooms sometime next May.

Clarkson, Hammond and May will be competing with a rival car series on Amazon Prime after signing a multi-million deal with the streaming service.

Filming began earlier this month but its title is yet to be settled upon, meaning there’s still hope for Gear Knobs.