After a 15-year absence, Justin Lindo believed it would take several races to rediscover the speed and dexterity he acquired during the eight years he spent karting as a youngster.

He need not have worried, though, with the 31-year-old rapidly establishing himself as one of the top three drivers in the L206 class, despite missing the first four races of the season.

Racing in a kart borrowed from fellow racer Jeff Sousa, Lindo has been surprised how quickly he has “got back into the groove” and says he has fallen in love with the sport all over again.

“I’m right back into it now,” Lindo said. “I’m a little bit heavier than some of the other guys in my class, but we’ve got four victories so far this season and nothing less than a third.

“I spent the whole Saturday before my first race day down at the track; I must have done about 100 laps. I woke up on the Sunday as sore as hell! I thought to myself, ‘I am really ready’.

“I ended up getting a win on the first race day. It was by a technicality, but a win’s a win.”

Lindo has enjoyed a smooth reintegration into the local karting scene, helped by familiar faces such as his cousin Rian Lindo and Scott Barnes, the former BKC president, who he raced against as a junior.

“Scott and I started racing at the same and were in the same classes growing up,” Lindo said. “Whereas I stopped when I went overseas to school, he just kept on going.

“I don’t regret stopping, but I’m glad I’m back in and I don’t plan stopping anytime soon.

“Racing is part of you. Now that I’ve started back, all I want to do is get back down [to the Rubis Southside Raceway].

“One of my friends Max Correia has bought a kart after seeing how much fun I’ve been having and now he’s racing with us too. I’ve got the urge to race again. It’s nice to be able to spend time doing something that I really enjoy.”

Although Barnes is the runaway leader in the L206, Lindo is hopeful of winning the battle for second with Ed Cook.

“Scott is quite a bit out in front,” he said. “Since I started four races out, it’s kind of hard to reel him back in.

“We’re shooting for second and it’s been a close battle between Scott, Ed and me. It’s going to be tight between me and Ed for second, that’s for sure.”

Had it not been for the help and support of senior drivers Sousa and David Barbosa, Lindo might never have found his way back into karting.

“If it wasn’t for those guys, I wouldn’t be racing,” Lindo continued. “When Jeff started racing he needed somewhere to keep his kart and, with mine and my father’s [Mark] experience, we helped him out.

“He ended up winning the championship [in the L206 Masters] and it’s the same kart that I race in today.

“It’s a 2008 [model]; she’s old, she’s a hand-me-down, but she’s still pushing. She’s doing well.”

Lindo has nothing but fond memories of his junior karting days and feels privileged to have been among the racers who competed at the first Hamilton Grand Prix in 1999.

“It was great to race in the first two Grand Prix in Hamilton and the only St George’s Grand Prix,” said Lindo, who started racing aged ten. “They were great times. “There were more people racing back in the day when I was a kid, but the sport seems to be coming back. There’s still the same unity.”