Skip to content

Spain, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands

These countries mostly time the zone from its start, like France. The differences are in the start, the tables, the precision, and in what the event allows you to carry.

The Tulpenrallye bans devices like this

The Tulpenrallye (Netherlands, 2025) bans GPS devices, smartwatches and electronic speed tables. Only the organiser's app is allowed. Do not use this app there. At other events in these countries, read the regulations on devices before you bring the phone.

Not yet checked by a competitor

This page comes from the written rules. It has not been read by a competitor from these countries yet.

How this format times you

Mostly cumulative from the start of the test. The strength of the evidence differs by country.

  • Spain, RFEDA CERH-REG 2026. Two championships, Regularidad Sport (no maximum stated) and Regularidad (up to 60 km/h). The race director can choose an "exceptional" average 5 km/h lower, shown on a sign at the time control before the stage. Average changes are allowed inside timed stages. The timing document lists the "hora teorica de paso con las medias correspondientes" for each check. Cumulative is inferred, not stated in a sentence (open). Checks are secret, with GNSS timing at least one per 500 m, none in the first 500 m or in the 250 m after an average increase. Penalty 0.1 point per 0.1 s, early or late the same. More than 10 % early against the ideal time at any check costs 100 points the first and second time, then disqualification. Start: self-start at 1-minute intervals against the timekeeper's clock. Any distance or time device is allowed, with at most one connected to the car.
  • Spain, "a vinetas" and "a hitos" stages (CEEA). The sheet with the ideal time per reference is handed over at the stage start, and the average may change at any reference without notice. These stages cannot be entered in advance.
  • Costa Brava Historic 2024. Averages up to 50 km/h, with a high ("Alta") and a low ("Baja") average. Free self-start where the marshal's time is rounded to the nearest minute (leaving at :03 counts as :00, at :57 as the next :00). GPS timing to 0.1 s, marshals to 1 s. 1 point per second, late capped at 50, early uncapped, a missed check 100, and a joker that drops only late checks.
  • Llanes Historic 2025. Timing to 0.1 s with the fraction dropped (truncated). Tables for every average, or an imposed table every 100 m. More than 20 % over the average between two checks costs 300.
  • Belgium, Legend Boucles Classic 65 and 50 (2026). The rules state the cumulative measure: the ideal time comes from the start time, the distance and the imposed average, "not related to any precedent delay or advance". Tripy GPS timing to the second. Penalty: 1 point per second late, 2 points for the "2nd and subsequent seconds early" (open: this reads as if the first second early is free). Caps: 60 per check, 100 for a missed check, 250 per test. A countdown "30-15-10-5...1", then a flying start. "Average tables" are allowed; whether a phone app is on the allowed list is open.
  • Belgium, Ypres Historic Regularity 2025 (draft rules). Normal and exceptional averages, the exceptional one announced at the start of the test. Tripy timing with a +/-0.3 s tolerance. Early is penalised double. Open: whether stop-and-go time in closed stages is removed from the ideal time.
  • Netherlands, Tulpenrallye 2025. The rules state the cumulative measure: "steeds berekend vanaf de start". Example in the rules: 5.1 km at 45 km/h is 6:48. Averages can change inside a test, and tables are in the roadbook. A manned start is at hh🇲🇲ss, not necessarily on the minute. A self-start is the previous TC time plus x minutes. 2 points per second, symmetric, capped at 150 per test.
  • Portugal, FPAK 2026. Each check is scored "independentemente de qualquer atraso ou avanco", which is cumulative, except for SRS sectors. Each event declares its own precision (1 m or 10 m distance, 1 s or 0.1 s time). Sector types: SRA (standard), SRH (checks only at km posts), SRF (checks only at roadbook figures), SRS (the time a crew takes over one sub-sector becomes its ideal time for the others), SCHSP (non-stop time controls at a published ideal time).

Stage setup

See Turning the roadbook into a stage.

  1. Stage type Regularity.
  2. Start signal.
    • Self-start on the minute (Spain): Time at the minute you leave.
    • Manned start at hh🇲🇲ss (Tulpenrallye): Time with the exact time. The picker takes seconds.
    • Flying start after a countdown (LBB): Line, or Tap, at the start line.
  3. One section for each average, with a boundary at each change. Two tables (Alta/Baja, normal/exceptional, high/low): save one stage for each, with the same sections and different speeds.
  4. Keep Auto-switch sections by distance on.

Costa Brava. The organiser rounds your free start time to the nearest minute. The app cannot do that for you. Set the Time start to the minute the organiser will count, and start the stage at that minute. Whether that matches the true crossing is the organiser's rule, not the app's.

Button recipe

  1. Set the Rally Time to the official clock. Load the right table. Press Start.
  2. Start at the traffic light, the countdown or the flying line.
  3. Drive. + is late (SPEED UP), - is early (SLOW DOWN).
  4. At a roadbook landmark where an average changes, press Sync when level with it.
  5. Never press a TC button inside the test (Next Section + Restart, Sync + Restart, TC, a long press on the Ideal Time). They re-base the ideal time. See Time controls and re-bases.
  6. Press Finish at the end.

Pitfalls

  • Early is worse in several of these events. Costa Brava (early uncapped, late capped at 50), Ypres (early x2) and Legend Boucles (early 2 points per second) punish early more. The app shows both signs the same way. Err slightly late.
  • The exceptional table is announced late. In Spain it is on a sign at the time control before the stage, and at Ypres at the start. Have both stages saved and loaded in advance, and decide at the control.
  • The start is not always on the minute. Tulpenrallye starts are at a listed hh🇲🇲ss. A self-start there is the previous TC time plus x minutes. Enter the real time, not the nearest minute.
  • Slow zones (Legend Boucles). 200 to 300 m at 36 km/h, 20 or 30 s, timed separately from entry to exit. The app has no mini-timer for them, and the zone is not part of the stage's ideal time. Keep it out of the stage, or time it by hand.
  • Second-level truncation. Llanes drops the fraction of the 0.1 s time. The app does not reproduce that.

How well the app fits

Good for cumulative zones with a Time start. The app does not do the following:

  • timing of the checks to 0.1 s or 0.01 s (the app shows tenths under a minute, and has no rounding or truncation setting);
  • unannounced average changes ("a vinetas");
  • the Portuguese SRS sectors, where a crew's time over one sub-sector becomes the ideal for the others;
  • snapping a free start to the nearest minute;
  • switching tables inside a test.

Legality note

Spain's CERH-REG allows any distance or time device, with at most one connected to the car, and bans exterior GPS antennas from 2027 (Technical Regulations 4.1). Legend Boucles allows "average tables", and whether a phone app is on the list is open. The Tulpenrallye bans it. Do not assume that an app is allowed in any event. Ask the organiser, in writing if you can.

Sources

The Spanish cumulative model is inferred, and the Ypres rules are a draft. Article numbers in brackets.

  • RFEDA CERH-REG 2026, Reglamento Deportivo [9.1, 18.1.2, 18.2]: PDF
  • RFEDA Anexo 4, timing requirements [2.2-2.6]: PDF
  • CEEA Anexo 12, stage types: PDF
  • Rally Costa Brava Historic 2024 [8.10.1, 8.11, 8.12, 8.16]: PDF
  • Rallye Villa de Llanes Historico 2025 [6.1, 6.14]: PDF
  • Legend Boucles at Bastogne 2026, Classic regulations [4.7, 13.4, 20.1, 22.2-22.17, 26.5]: PDF
  • Ypres Historic Regularity 2025, draft SR [9.5.1]: PDF
  • Tulpenrallye 2025 regulations [10.1-10.2]: PDF
  • FPAK PEPR 2026 [3.1, 4.2, 8.1, 8.2]: PDF and the CPRH regulations [9.2.1]: PDF