In the morning he watched the Grand-Am race, handing the trophy to the winners in Victory Lane, before joining the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers meeting ahead of tonight's 400-mile race.
AUTOSPORT spoke to Todt about his Daytona visit.
Q. What brings you to Daytona?
I met all the France family, I met some teams, some drivers and you know, you can learn from what is happening here, what's a bit unusual for you.
Q. What's your first overall impression?
JT: I did not see a lot of people [in the grandstands] so it means that Grand-Am is less popular in Daytona than NASCAR but it was still a very competitive race.
It was interesting to see the rolling start, with the sportscars first and then the GT cars. It was hard competition and the use of the safety car was interesting as well. So as I've said before, there's quite a lot you can understand about American racing.
Q. The FIA has not been too involved in NASCAR as America's most popular racing series. Any plans to change that?
JT: There already is some contact and some synergy but of course everything is open for the future. We're talking with endurance racing as well and you have the Le Mans here in America, you have [the] IRL [IndyCar Series] which I have not yet seen, which is another quite popular event in America.
If we can make some different racing, different synergy for the future; it's open.
Q. What's the current link between NASCAR and the FIA?
JT: There's some support in safety. Safety is very important for the FIA, for NASCAR organisers, for [NASCAR president] Mike Helton, who's very much involved as well as the France Family.
Next year will be the decade of action for Make Roads Safe for normal car users. Too many deaths in the roads is the word in America, so if we can have some programmes to support, to be more efficient, using racing all over the world, it would be a good opportunity.
Q. A very competitive season unfolding, and some tough races for Michael Schumacher recently in Formula 1. What's your verdict on the season thus far?
JT: You know, it's all depending on the car you drive. Michael is a great person, a great champion. I mean, I don't know somebody else who has won seven titles, 91 grands prix. Some people when they judge, they must be very careful, very respectful of what he has been doing.
Considering the Formula 1 World Championship it's very open. It's a big fight, we've had five different winners this year out of nine races. It's not yet halfway though the championship, it will be halfway past next week after British GP, so it's a very attractive championship.
Daytona Cup race to air in 3DMakoun plays down move talk
