Gordon Shedden says he feels confident about his chances heading into the 2019 World Touring Car Cup season despite the ever-increasing level of competition on the grid.

The multiple BTCC champion will return for a second season as one of four Audi Sport drivers on the grid, having made his debut on the world stage this year with WRT.

The Scot secured his maiden victory on the streets of Wuhan en-route to 13th in the championship standings, with his focus throughout the campaign having been on learning the ropes after more than a decade of competing in the British Touring Car Championship.

With a year of experience of both TCR machinery and the vastly different circuits on the WTCR schedule, the 39-year-old will now seek to regularly challenge towards the sharp end of the grid and admitted he was going into the 2019 campaign in a “much better place”.

That comes despite the addition of the new Lynk & Co Cyan Racing team to an expanded grid that will includes a number of new names including multiple WTCC title winner Andy Priaulx, Nick Catsburg, Augusto Farfus and World Rallycross star Johan Kristoffersson.

“Next year is going to be mega,” he said. “It’s almost going to be the ultimate touring car championship – we’re going to have the best of touring cars, of GTs, of young drivers, a bit of everything, and that’s brilliant.

“Our season was all about laying the foundations for next year. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and apart from Macau I’d not raced at any of the other circuits before; I’m confident that what we’ve learned, admittedly sometimes under the radar this year, will put us in better stead next year.

“This year was always about learning and we’ve taken the positives forward. We learned every weekend and it’s all been added to the knowledge bank, and I’m happy that we’ll start next year in a better place. We know everyone will take a step forward, but I do think that we’ll hit the ground running and be in a much better place in 2019.”