BBC presenter Chris Evans has been revealed as the new host motoring programme Top Gear.
The radio and television presenter has signed a three-year deal to lead an all-new line-up of presenters for the popular show.
BBC Radio 2 host Evans - who is known to be a car enthusiast - will replace Jeremy Clarkson, who was sacked earlier this year for assaulting a producer at a hotel in North Yorkshire.
He said: ‘I’m thrilled, Top Gear is my favourite programme of all time. Created by a host of brilliant minds who love cars and understand how to make the massively complicated come across as fun, devil-may-care and effortless.
‘When in fact of course, it's anything but and that's the genius of Top Gear's global success.'
The 49-year-old added: ‘I promise I will do everything I possibly can to respect what has gone on before and take the show forward.’
And about 20 minutes after the announcement tonight, he tweeted: 'First tweet as new Top Gear host. I would like to say Jeremy, Richard and James are the greatest. And no, I'm not leaving the Radio 2 Breakfast Show.'
Kim Shillinglaw, controller of BBC Two and BBC Four, added: ‘I am so delighted that Chris will be presenting the next series of Top Gear.
‘His knowledge of and passion for cars are well-known and combined with his sheer inventiveness and cheeky unpredictability he is the perfect choice to take our much-loved show into the future.
‘Chris is a huge fan of Top Gear and has great respect for the craft and work ethic of one of the best production teams in the world.
‘He knows the phenomenal attention to detail it takes to make a single sequence of Top Gear, let alone a whole series. He is already full of brilliant ideas and I can't wait for him to get started.’
Production on the new series of Top Gear would start in the next few weeks and more information would be announced in due course.
Jeremy Clarkson was suspended, then dropped, by the BBC in March following a "fracas" with a producer at a hotel.
His final appearance on Top Gear will be shown in Britain on June 28. The episode will be made up of two films shot before Clarkson was suspended, with Hammond and May presenting links from the studio.
-Daily Mail