Lamborghini fan Jeremy Clarkson may have dismissed it as "something built in a light industrial unit in Leicestershire" – but Noble's latest supercar soon wiped the smile off the Top Gear presenter's face.

The M600 was one of the vehicles put through their paces in the opening show of the BBC's hit TV series on Sunday night.

True to form, Clarkson and co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond took very expensive, very fast and extremely powerful cars to an exotic part of the world – in this case southern Italy – to show off what they can do.

Their challenge was to find the best supercar for anyone who doesn't want a Ferrari 458, which is widely recognised by petrol-heads as the finest of its kind.

The 225mph M600, designed and built at Noble's headquarters on Leicester's Meridian Business Park, was picked by Hammond, while May opted for a McLaren MP4-12c and Clarkson chose a Lamborghini Aventador.

The M600 won two out of three challenges set – to be fastest and most fuel efficient. Hammond reached 204.8mph compared to the Lamborghini's 204.3mph and the McLaren's 201.6mph.

The firm's managing director Peter Boutwood said: "I was very pleased with the show.

"It was quite something to be invited to take part.

"We did have problems, with the clutch midway through, but the Lamborghini had issues with its brakes on the track and the McLaren had some problems that were not shown in the show. Our guys did drive all that way from Leicester to Rome overnight to get him a new car."

The Noble was pipped in the third challenge by Clarkson's Lambo as all the drivers tried to match the lap time set around the Imola F1 track in a Ferrari 458.

The presenters were unable to agree on whose car was the best, but Hammond praised the Noble, saying: "It taught me more about driving in that one day than any other car has ever taught me."

Hammond has a history of buying the cars used on the show's international challenges.

However, Mr Boutwood declined to say if the presenter had paid the £228,000 asking price for the Noble.