After a late announcement of their participation on the show earlier this week, Hollywood A-Listers Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, who co-star in the recently-released film Knight of Day, showed that they were more than just a pair of pretty faces, as they topped the celebrity leaderboard in the motoring show Top Gear.

The segmet of the show (which is presented by James May, Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson, along with mysterious test driver ‘The Stig’) known as Star in a Reasonably Priced Car, sees famous people or celebrities come on the show to attempt a lap time (on the official Top Gear Test Track) in a common car (this series saw the introduction of a new car (the Kia Cee’d) due to overcrowding of the previous two leaderboards).

After businessman Peter Jones (who had been fast in previous leaderboards) set the quickest lap time on the opening session (a special segment where several different celebrities appeared on the same day) (1:45.9), he declared that it would not be beaten for a long time, but the two weeks later, Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint went top (1:45.5).

After another two weeks, the Hollywood duo appeared on the show together, and Cameron Diaz went top of the leaderboard with a time of 1:45.2, but minutes later, self-declared petrolhead Tom Cruise’s attempt was shown, and it bettered her lap by a second (1:44.2).

Tom said of his achievement: “This is the best day. This was like a vacation.”

Host Jeremy Clarkson added his thoughts on the drama, stating: “That was a breathtaking thing.”

It remains to be seen if any other famous challengers could be up to the automotive test…

Watch the Top Gear episode on iplayer

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