In the past few years, we’ve become so accustomed to Top Gear->ke1860 airing two seasons annually that when we heard a report that Top Gear wouldn’t return until next year, we were almost blown our off our chairs, quite literally.

The last couple of seasons have begun with a Christmas special while the remaining episodes of that season air in the weeks after the calendar ticks over for another year, before the ever-hilarious British show returns for our viewing pleasure in the later-half of the year. However, if Jeremy Clarkson is to be believed, and on this issue he definitely is as he hosts the show, Top Gear won’t return this year, meaning we’ll just have to settle for watching old re-runs.

Clarkson broke the news while talking to South African radio show Ballz Visual Radio stating, "There's no Top Gear on this year." So the rest is pretty self-explanatory, right? Well, not exactly as it's unclear just why Top Gear won’t be adding a nineteenth season this year, but we suspect a few factors could be at play.

First and foremost the Olympic Games in London kick off on the 27th of July, right around the time a new season of Top Gear would premiere and the show’s producers obviously cannot compete with the viewing audience which will be glued to their TV’s watching the Olympics. Another possible reason for the delay is rising production costs needed for producing the show and perhaps the BBC is saving up cash to deliver one balls-out, full-on, epic season of Top Gear annually.

Check out the video of the telephone interview below and tell us, why do you think Top Gear won’t appear until 2013?

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