James May wasn't in the first series of TG with Clarkson/Hammond. The co-presenter was Jason Dawe who did bits about car prices in a Quentin Wilson type role. I have a very vague memory that it didn't work too well and only did the first series before moving onto something else.
Don't see Guy Martin in the role, though I do like him. There has been plenty of stupid engineering stuff without him and May has/had been doing a decent job as the geeky bloke.
I've read that before but don't remember it, even looked for it and cannot find it, as far as I am aware they never show repeats of that first series
TP will not be the same without them, trying to recreate what they had would be foolish, create a new programme, it has to be different but could work again, people will judge it against the previous show and presenters but they would be bst to advertise it as something different, another reinvention
Leave the three to create specials on another channel, I alays proffered the specials, they can still do this under another name I would think