Meet the man healing Kyly Clarke’s broken heart, V8 Supercars champion James Courtney

Kyly Clarke has reportedly moved on from retired cricket captain Michael Clarke, eight months after their separation made headlines.

And it appears the former model, 39, has hit the jackpot with her rumoured new boyfriend, V8 Supercars champion James Courtney.

The race car driver and father of two, also 39, has known Kyly since she was just 11 years old, with The Daily Telegraph reporting the two briefly dated two decades ago.

James is, like Kyly, no stranger to the spotlight. His own marriage split played out in front of the nation in 2017, just like the Clarkes’ did earlier this year.

He and his ex-wife of 16 years, Carys, were teenage sweethearts, but everything fell apart during the worst season of his driving career three years ago.

Their break-up was splashed across the tabloids when Carys was pictured getting cosy with former Bachelorette star Stu Laundy in 2018. 

Stu, a millionaire pub baron, famously dated Sophie Monk after they met on the 2017 season of The Bachelorette.

James told The Daily Telegraph in June this year that he was shocked to see images of the pair in the press. One particularly confronting photo showed Stu brazenly grabbing Carys’ chest while they took a romantic stroll in Honolulu, Hawaii.

‘It was certainly something I didn’t need to see,’ he confessed. ‘No one wants to see an ex with someone else, especially like that and in the news.’

James went through a two-year court battle to keep his assets and equal custody of his children, Zara and Cadel, while in the crossroads of his driving career.

‘The last couple of years have been easily the hardest of my life,’ Courtney said of this difficult time. ‘I was trying to perform in the spotlight while my life was falling apart.’

Defending the photos with Stu, Carys told 9Honey at the time: ‘I was with my girlfriends, with other travel agents and this was not the story that was portrayed at all. It was all about me being a scarlet woman.

‘I’ve been able to keep my head held high as my true friends know who I am. The others who think badly of me and gossip about me are not worth my time.’ 

Following his marriage breakdown, James dated marketing manager Alexandra Elms, but it appears their romance fizzled out in June.

While James is a often a winner on the race trick – he broke the record for winning the most Formula Ford races in one season in 2000 – he’s also flirted with reality TV in the past, and was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars in 2007.

Kyly, meanwhile, has been focusing on her four-year-old daughter, Kelsey-Lee, following her amicable split with Michael last year.

The retired Australian cricket captain has also moved on with P.E Nation co-founder Pip Edwards, and the pair regularly share loved-up photos together on Instagram.