Top Gear star to film new auto show in Johannesburg

The season premiere of former British television presenter Jeremy Clarkson's new Amazon Prime show will be filmed in South Africa in July, the streaming service announced Thursday.  

Clarkson, who was dropped from hit BBC motoring show "Top Gear" in 2015 for punching a producer, is reuniting with his co-stars to make a new series about cars for Amazon Prime.

The show, called The Grand Tour, will follow Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond as they travel around the world.

"So there we are. First stop on our Grand Tour is Johannesburg. Mid July," Clarkson posted Thursday to his Twitter account.

Clarkson was booted off "Top Gear" after he reported himself to BBC management for shouting at and hitting producer Oisin Tymon in the face, giving him a bleeding lip. Tymon sought hospital treatment.

An internal BBC investigation found that Clarkson had physically attacked Tymon following a lengthy verbal tirade -- reportedly because the presenter was annoyed at a lack of hot food after a day's filming.

The BBC announced it would not renew his contract after 12 years on the show and May and Hammond also left the broadcaster.

More than a million people signed a petition calling for him to be reinstated.

In July 2015, Amazon announced that it had signed Clarkson for The Grand Tour.

According to photos published on the show's Facebook page, episodes have already been recorded in Portugal, Barbados, and North Africa. 

An estimated 350 million viewers around the world tuned in to "Top Gear" each week to watch the three men review cars and try them out in madcap stunts, making it the world's most popular factual television programme.

The BBC decided to continue with "Top Gear" with another BBC star, Chris Evans, taking the lead presenter role alongside Matt Le Blanc.

Evans' debut on Sunday received lukewarm reviews.

Amazon is the world's largest online retailer and Prime, an Internet streaming service similar to Netflix, offers subscribers access to thousands of films and television shows, including original content.