Ex-racing driver fights to stop estranged wife getting half of £11m fortune

Retired Swedish racing driver Kenny Brack is fighting to stop his estranged wife getting a half share of an £11 million fortune.

Anita Brack, 51, who also comes from Sweden, has asked three Court of Appeal judges to overturn decisions made by a High Court judge two years ago.

She says she is entitled to half of the £11 million and has complained that a ruling by Mr Justice Francis unfairly leaves her with £500 000 and Brack more than £10 million.

Brack, a 52-year-old businessman, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1999, says her appeal should be dismissed.

Mr Justice Francis delivered a ruling in December 2016 after analysing evidence at a trial in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

Appeal judges Lord Justice Lewison, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Peter Jackson are analysing Ms Brack’s challenge at a Court of Appeal hearing due to end later this week.

Both Brack and his estranged wife were in court for the start of the hearing on Wednesday.

Judges have heard that the Bracks started living together in 1994, married in 2000 and split around five years ago.

They have two children and had lived in Maidenhead, Berkshire, when married.

The couple signed a prenuptial agreement during a romantic long weekend at a luxury hotel near Niagara Falls, Canada, shortly before marrying, judges have heard.

Ms Brack says that Niagara agreement, plus two other similar agreements, were unfair to her.

Mr Justice Francis said he had concluded that Brack was mean but honest.

“Although I found the husband to be rather cold and matter-of-fact in the way that he gave his evidence and I find his current approach towards the wife and the knock-on effect that it would have on the children to be both mean-spirited and mean, I found him to be honest and truthful and preferred his recollection of the circumstances surrounding the signing of the agreements,” the judge said in his ruling.

“Having heard from him and observed his attitude towards money I accept as probably correct that he told the wife he would not marry her if she did not sign a prenuptial agreement.”

Mr Justice Francis said he thought the prenuptial agreements were “unfair” on Ms Brack.

But he suggested that she would need to pursue her case in a Swedish court.

The judge also said Brack had money to spare and urged him to try to find a way of settling.

A profile on Motor Sport magazine’s website says Brack became a star in America after racing in Swedish Formula 3 during the late 1980s.

His career ended after he was seriously injured in an accident while racing in Texas in 2003.

Motor Sport says Brack was launched into fencing while travelling at 200mph and suffered a broken back, sternum, ankles and right leg.