Jeremy Clarkson ranked as best Top Gear presenter of all time in fan poll

Jeremy Clarkson has been voted the best Top Gear presenter of all time – securing nearly a third of all possible votes.

The TV personality and motoring journalist, 59, topped a Radio Times poll of 5,000 respondents.

Clarkson’s co-stars on The Grand Tour James May and Richard Hammond came second and third respectively.

Chris Harris, the only survivor from the Chris Evans reboot, earned fourth place while British racing car driver Tiff Needell, currently of Fifth Gear, came in fifth.

The BBC’s long-running motoring show has seen 33 presenters over 42 years and has been rebooted numerous times.

The programme’s most recent additions, Matt LeBlanc, Paddy McGuiness and Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff, also charted, scoring sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.

Classic Top Gear stars Vicki Butler-Henderson and Quentin Wilson took ninth and 10th place.

Jeremy Clarkson told RadioTimes.com: “I’m overwhelmed, this is literally the 27th thing I’ve won, and it’s always special, but this is a particularly special moment.

“I fear I may have won it by one vote, and that one vote was mine. Presumably Frank Page was second? I thought he would win it, frankly, that’s why I voted for myself, because I was worried about Frank.

“Him or Chris Goffey… or Angela Rippon… or Noel Edmonds… You should run Best Grand Tour Presenter next and see who gets that.”

Editorial director of RadioTimes.com Tim Glanfield said: “He’s certainly a divisive character, but when it comes to one show there seems to be little doubt in the minds of the British public – Top Gear means Clarkson.

“It’s perhaps unsurprising that the three men who made the show a global hit won this particular race – but the sheer distance by which Mr Clarkson took pole position solidifies his place as the star in a car, reasonably priced or otherwise.”