New Chris Evans-fronted Top Gear kicks off with a reference to Jeremy Clarkson firing

Sunday night (May 29) saw the much-anticipated relaunch of Top Gear finally hit our screens, but it wasn't too long before new presenter Chris Evans was faced with a reference to one of his predecessors, Jeremy Clarkson.

Introducing the first segment, Evans directed the audience towards "the guys and girls from his local Indian restaurant". So far so good.

But then he opened up a question to the audience, asking: "Anybody got any idea why these guys are here?"

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Someone did, and responded with: "New caterers!"

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The comment was a quick reference to Clarkson's firing, which saw him suspended, and then eventually fired for punching Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon ^[1] after he was told there was no hot food available after a day of filming.

Evans didn't miss a note though, quickly responding with a cheeky: "By the way, we don't talk about catering on this show anymore."

Well played, sir.

Top Gear airs on BBC Two.