diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 5bd8c1b22..e2b8864f4 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -11,10 +11,6 @@ variables:
   GITLAB_REPOSITORY: 'kargo-ci/kubernetes-sigs-kubespray'
   ANSIBLE_FORCE_COLOR: "true"
   MAGIC: "ci check this"
-  TEST_ID: "$CI_PIPELINE_ID-$CI_JOB_ID"
-  CI_TEST_VARS: "./tests/files/${CI_JOB_NAME}.yml"
-  CI_TEST_REGISTRY_MIRROR: "./tests/common/_docker_hub_registry_mirror.yml"
-  CI_TEST_SETTING: "./tests/common/_kubespray_test_settings.yml"
   GS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: $GS_KEY
   GS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: $GS_SECRET
   CONTAINER_ENGINE: docker
@@ -22,13 +18,12 @@ variables:
   GCE_PREEMPTIBLE: "false"
   ANSIBLE_KEEP_REMOTE_FILES: "1"
   ANSIBLE_CONFIG: ./tests/ansible.cfg
-  ANSIBLE_INVENTORY: ./inventory/sample/${CI_JOB_NAME}-${BUILD_NUMBER}.ini
   IDEMPOT_CHECK: "false"
   RESET_CHECK: "false"
   REMOVE_NODE_CHECK: "false"
   UPGRADE_TEST: "false"
   MITOGEN_ENABLE: "false"
-  ANSIBLE_LOG_LEVEL: "-vv"
+  ANSIBLE_VERBOSITY: 2
   RECOVER_CONTROL_PLANE_TEST: "false"
   RECOVER_CONTROL_PLANE_TEST_GROUPS: "etcd[2:]:kube_control_plane[1:]"
   TERRAFORM_VERSION: 1.3.7
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/packet.yml b/.gitlab-ci/packet.yml
index 73ebe870d..2ed183c6a 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/packet.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/packet.yml
@@ -65,14 +65,6 @@
   allow_failure: true
   extends: .packet
 
-packet_cleanup_old:
-  stage: deploy-part1
-  extends: .packet_periodic
-  script:
-    - cd tests
-    - make cleanup-packet
-  after_script: []
-
 # The ubuntu20-calico-all-in-one jobs are meant as early stages to prevent running the full CI if something is horribly broken
 packet_ubuntu20-calico-all-in-one:
   stage: deploy-part1
diff --git a/tests/Makefile b/tests/Makefile
index f052978b1..8a275f1dc 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile
+++ b/tests/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-INVENTORY=$(PWD)/../inventory/sample/${CI_JOB_NAME}-${BUILD_NUMBER}.ini
-
 init-packet:
 	mkdir -p $(HOME)/.ssh
 	echo $(PACKET_VM_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY) | base64 -d > $(HOME)/.ssh/id_rsa
@@ -13,30 +11,17 @@ delete-tf:
 
 create-packet: init-packet
 	ansible-playbook cloud_playbooks/create-packet.yml -c local \
-	$(ANSIBLE_LOG_LEVEL) \
-	-e @"files/${CI_JOB_NAME}.yml" \
-	-e test_id=$(TEST_ID) \
-	-e branch="$(CI_COMMIT_BRANCH)" \
-	-e pipeline_id="$(CI_PIPELINE_ID)" \
-	-e inventory_path=$(INVENTORY)
-
-delete-packet:
-	ansible-playbook cloud_playbooks/delete-packet.yml -c local \
-	$(ANSIBLE_LOG_LEVEL) \
 	-e @"files/${CI_JOB_NAME}.yml" \
-	-e test_id=$(TEST_ID) \
+	-e test_name="$(subst .,-,$(CI_PIPELINE_ID)-$(CI_JOB_ID))" \
 	-e branch="$(CI_COMMIT_BRANCH)" \
 	-e pipeline_id="$(CI_PIPELINE_ID)" \
-	-e inventory_path=$(INVENTORY)
+	-e inventory_path=$(INVENTORY_DIR)
 
-cleanup-packet:
-	ansible-playbook cloud_playbooks/cleanup-packet.yml -c local \
-	$(ANSIBLE_LOG_LEVEL)
+delete-packet: ;
 
 create-vagrant:
 	vagrant up
-	cp  $(CI_PROJECT_DIR)/.vagrant/provisioners/ansible/inventory/vagrant_ansible_inventory $(INVENTORY)
-
+	cp $(CI_PROJECT_DIR)/.vagrant/provisioners/ansible/inventory/vagrant_ansible_inventory $(INVENTORY_DIR)
 
 delete-vagrant:
 	vagrant destroy -f
diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/cleanup-packet.yml b/tests/cloud_playbooks/cleanup-packet.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 2ba5e3021..000000000
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/cleanup-packet.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
----
-
-- name: Cleanup packet vms
-  hosts: localhost
-  gather_facts: false
-  become: true
-  roles:
-    - { role: cleanup-packet-ci }
diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/create-packet.yml b/tests/cloud_playbooks/create-packet.yml
index 2cd08b54d..26c39217f 100644
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/create-packet.yml
+++ b/tests/cloud_playbooks/create-packet.yml
@@ -4,8 +4,5 @@
   hosts: localhost
   gather_facts: false
   become: true
-  vars:
-    ci_job_name: "{{ lookup('env', 'CI_JOB_NAME') }}"
-    test_name: "{{ test_id | regex_replace('\\.', '-') }}"
   roles:
     - { role: packet-ci, vm_cleanup: false }
diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/delete-packet.yml b/tests/cloud_playbooks/delete-packet.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 7320da622..000000000
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/delete-packet.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
----
-
-- name: Terminate Packet VMs
-  hosts: localhost
-  gather_facts: false
-  become: true
-  vars:
-    ci_job_name: "{{ lookup('env', 'CI_JOB_NAME') }}"
-    test_name: "{{ test_id | regex_replace('\\.', '-') }}"
-  roles:
-    - { role: packet-ci, vm_cleanup: true }
diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/cleanup-packet-ci/tasks/main.yml b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/cleanup-packet-ci/tasks/main.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 9256b2d54..000000000
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/cleanup-packet-ci/tasks/main.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
----
-
-- name: Fetch a list of namespaces
-  kubernetes.core.k8s_info:
-    api_version: v1
-    kind: Namespace
-    label_selectors:
-      - cijobs = true
-  register: namespaces
-
-- name: Delete stale namespaces for more than 2 hours
-  command: "kubectl delete namespace {{ item.metadata.name }}"
-  failed_when: false
-  loop: "{{ namespaces.resources }}"
-  when:
-    - (now() - (item.metadata.creationTimestamp | to_datetime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ"))).total_seconds() >= 7200
diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/cleanup-old-vms.yml b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/cleanup-old-vms.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 052a44fd1..000000000
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/cleanup-old-vms.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
----
-
-- name: Fetch a list of namespaces
-  kubernetes.core.k8s_info:
-    api_version: v1
-    kind: Namespace
-    label_selectors:
-      - cijobs = true
-      - branch = {{ branch_name_sane }}
-  register: namespaces
-
-- name: Delete older namespaces
-  command: "kubectl delete namespace {{ item.metadata.name }}"
-  failed_when: false
-  loop: "{{ namespaces.resources }}"
-  when:
-    - (item.metadata.labels.pipeline_id | int) < (pipeline_id | int)
diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/create-vms.yml b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/create-vms.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 2a73b674d..000000000
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/create-vms.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,50 +0,0 @@
----
-
-- name: "Create CI namespace {{ test_name }} for test vms"
-  shell: |-
-    kubectl create namespace {{ test_name }} &&
-      kubectl label namespace {{ test_name }} cijobs=true branch="{{ branch_name_sane }}" pipeline_id="{{ pipeline_id }}"
-  changed_when: false
-
-- name: "Create temp dir /tmp/{{ test_name }} for CI files"
-  file:
-    path: "/tmp/{{ test_name }}"
-    state: directory
-    mode: "0755"
-
-- name: Template vm files for CI job
-  set_fact:
-    vms_files: "{{ vms_files + [lookup('ansible.builtin.template', 'vm.yml.j2') | from_yaml] }}"
-  vars:
-    vms_files: []
-  loop: "{{ range(1, vm_count | int + 1, 1) | list }}"
-  loop_control:
-    index_var: vm_id
-
-- name: Start vms for CI job
-  kubernetes.core.k8s:
-    definition: "{{ item }}"
-  changed_when: false
-  loop: "{{ vms_files }}"
-
-- name: Wait for vms to have ipaddress assigned
-  shell: "set -o pipefail && kubectl get vmis -n {{ test_name }} instance-{{ vm_id }} -o json | jq '.status.interfaces[].ipAddress' | tr -d '\"'"
-  args:
-    executable: /bin/bash
-  changed_when: false
-  register: vm_ips
-  loop: "{{ range(1, vm_count | int + 1, 1) | list }}"
-  loop_control:
-    index_var: vm_id
-  retries: 20
-  delay: 15
-  until:
-    - vm_ips.stdout | ansible.utils.ipaddr
-
-- name: "Create inventory for CI test in file /tmp/{{ test_name }}/inventory"
-  template:
-    src: "inventory.j2"
-    dest: "{{ inventory_path }}"
-    mode: "0644"
-  vars:
-    vms: "{{ vm_ips }}"
diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/delete-vms.yml b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/delete-vms.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 75156584a..000000000
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/delete-vms.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
----
-
-- name: Check if temp directory for {{ test_name }} exists
-  stat:
-    path: "/tmp/{{ test_name }}"
-    get_attributes: false
-    get_checksum: false
-    get_mime: false
-  register: temp_dir_details
-
-- name: "Cleanup temp directory for {{ test_name }}"
-  file:
-    path: "/tmp/{{ test_name }}"
-    state: absent
-
-- name: "Cleanup namespace for {{ test_name }}"
-  command: "kubectl delete namespace {{ test_name }}"
-  changed_when: false
-
-- name: Wait for namespace {{ test_name }} to be fully deleted
-  command: kubectl get ns {{ test_name }}
-  register: delete_namespace
-  failed_when:
-    - delete_namespace.rc == 0
-  changed_when:
-    - delete_namespace.rc == 0
-  retries: 12
-  delay: 10
-  until:
-    - delete_namespace.rc != 0
diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/main.yml b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/main.yml
index f2dea7f6b..de6e48821 100644
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/tasks/main.yml
@@ -1,17 +1,52 @@
 ---
-
-- name: "Include custom vars for ci job: {{ ci_job_name }}"
+- name: Include custom vars for ci job
   include_vars: "../files/{{ ci_job_name }}.yml"
 
-- name: Cleamup old VMs
-  import_tasks: cleanup-old-vms.yml
+- name: Start vms for CI job
+  vars:
+    # Workaround for compatibility when testing upgrades with old == before e9d406ed088d4291ef1d9018c170a4deed2bf928
+    # TODO: drop after 2.27.0
+    legacy_groups: "{{ (['kube_control_plane', 'kube_node', 'calico_rr'] | intersect(item) | length > 0) | ternary(['k8s_cluster'], []) }}"
+    tvars:
+      kubespray_groups: "{{ item + legacy_groups }}"
+  kubernetes.core.k8s:
+    definition: "{{ lookup('template', 'vm.yml.j2', template_vars=tvars) }}"
+  loop: "{{ scenarios[mode | d('default')] }}"
+
+- name: Wait for vms to have IP addresses
+  kubernetes.core.k8s_info:
+    api_version: kubevirt.io/v1
+    kind: VirtualMachineInstance
+    label_selectors:
+      - "ci_job_id={{ ci_job_id }}"
+    namespace: "{{ pod_namespace }}"
+  register: vmis
+  until: vmis.resources
+          | map(attribute='status.interfaces.0')
+          | rejectattr('ipAddress', 'defined') == []
+  retries: 30
+  delay: 10
 
-- name: Create VMs
-  import_tasks: create-vms.yml
-  when:
-    - not vm_cleanup
+- name: Massage VirtualMachineInstance data into an Ansible inventory structure
+  vars:
+    ips: "{{ vmis.resources | map(attribute='status.interfaces.0.ipAddress') }}"
+    names: "{{ vmis.resources | map(attribute='metadata.name') }}"
+    _groups: "{{ vmis.resources | map(attribute='metadata.annotations.ansible_groups') | map('split', ',') }}"
+    hosts: "{{ ips | zip(_groups, names)
+                | map('zip', ['ansible_host', 'ansible_groups', 'k8s_vmi_name'])
+                | map('map', 'reverse') | map('community.general.dict') }}"
+  loop: "{{ hosts | map(attribute='ansible_groups') | flatten | unique }}"
+  set_fact:
+    ci_inventory: "{{ ci_inventory|d({}) | combine({
+                    item: {
+                      'hosts': hosts | selectattr('ansible_groups', 'contains', item)
+                                     | rekey_on_member('k8s_vmi_name')
+                      }
+                    })
+                  }}"
 
-- name: Delete VMs
-  import_tasks: delete-vms.yml
-  when:
-    - vm_cleanup | default(false)
+- name: Create inventory for CI tests
+  copy:
+    content: "{{ ci_inventory | to_yaml }}"
+    dest: "{{ inventory_path }}/ci_inventory.yml"
+    mode: "0644"
diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/inventory.j2 b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/inventory.j2
deleted file mode 100644
index 1801a740a..000000000
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/inventory.j2
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,98 +0,0 @@
-[all]
-{% for instance in vms.results %}
-instance-{{ loop.index }} ansible_host={{instance.stdout}}
-{% endfor %}
-
-{% if mode == "separate" %}
-[kube_control_plane]
-instance-1
-
-[kube_node]
-instance-2
-
-[etcd]
-instance-3
-{% elif mode == "ha" %}
-[kube_control_plane]
-instance-1
-instance-2
-
-[kube_node]
-instance-3
-
-[etcd]
-instance-1
-instance-2
-instance-3
-{% elif mode == "default" %}
-[kube_control_plane]
-instance-1
-
-[kube_node]
-instance-2
-
-[etcd]
-instance-1
-{% elif mode == "all-in-one" %}
-[kube_control_plane]
-instance-1
-
-[kube_node]
-instance-1
-
-[etcd]
-instance-1
-{% elif mode == "ha-recover" %}
-[kube_control_plane]
-instance-1
-instance-2
-
-[kube_node]
-instance-3
-
-[etcd]
-instance-3
-instance-1
-instance-2
-
-[broken_kube_control_plane]
-instance-2
-
-[broken_etcd]
-instance-2 etcd_member_name=etcd3
-{% elif mode == "ha-recover-noquorum" %}
-[kube_control_plane]
-instance-3
-instance-1
-instance-2
-
-[kube_node]
-instance-3
-
-[etcd]
-instance-3
-instance-1
-instance-2
-
-[broken_kube_control_plane]
-instance-1
-instance-2
-
-[broken_etcd]
-instance-1 etcd_member_name=etcd2
-instance-2 etcd_member_name=etcd3
-{% elif mode == "node-etcd-client" %}
-[kube_control_plane]
-instance-1
-
-[etcd]
-instance-1
-instance-2
-instance-3
-
-[kube_node]
-instance-1
-instance-2
-instance-3
-instance-4
-{% endif %}
diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/vm.yml.j2 b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/vm.yml.j2
index 371656b73..920944963 100644
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/vm.yml.j2
+++ b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/vm.yml.j2
@@ -1,54 +1,59 @@
 ---
-apiVersion: kubevirt.io/v1alpha3
-kind: VirtualMachine
+apiVersion: kubevirt.io/v1
+kind: VirtualMachineInstance
 metadata:
-  name: "instance-{{ vm_id }}"
-  namespace: "{{ test_name }}"
+  generateName: test-vm-
+  namespace: {{ pod_namespace }}
   annotations:
     kubespray.com/ci.template-path: "tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/vm.yml.j2"
+    ansible_groups: "{{ kubespray_groups | join(',') }}"
+    # This does not use a dns prefix because dots are hard to escape with map(attribute=) in Jinja
   labels:
     kubevirt.io/os: {{ cloud_image }}
+    kubevirt.io/size: small
+    kubevirt.io/domain: "{{ test_name }}"
+    ci_job_id: "{{ ci_job_id }}"
+    ci_job_name: "{{ ci_job_name }}"
+  # leverage the Kubernetes GC for resources cleanup
+  ownerReferences:
+  - apiVersion: v1
+    kind: Pod
+    name: "{{ pod_name }}"
+    uid: "{{ pod_uid }}"
 spec:
-  running: true
-  template:
-    metadata:
-      labels:
-        kubevirt.io/size: small
-        kubevirt.io/domain: "{{ test_name }}"
-    spec:
-      domain:
-        devices:
-          blockMultiQueue: true
-          disks:
-            - disk:
-                bus: virtio
-              name: containervolume
-              cache: writethrough
-            - disk:
-                bus: virtio
-              name: cloudinitvolume
-          interfaces:
-          - name: default
-            bridge: {}
-        cpu:
-            cores: {{ vm_cpu_cores }}
-            sockets: {{ vm_cpu_sockets }}
-            threads: {{ vm_cpu_threads }}
-        resources:
-          requests:
-            memory: "{{ vm_memory * memory_allocation_ratio }}Mi"
-            cpu: {{ vm_cpu_cores * cpu_allocation_ratio }}
-          limits:
-            memory: "{{ vm_memory }}Mi"
-            cpu: {{ vm_cpu_cores }}
-      networks:
+  domain:
+    devices:
+      blockMultiQueue: true
+      disks:
+        - disk:
+            bus: virtio
+          name: containervolume
+          cache: writethrough
+        - disk:
+            bus: virtio
+          name: cloudinitvolume
+      interfaces:
       - name: default
-        pod: {}
-      terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 0
-      volumes:
-        - name: containervolume
-          containerDisk:
-            image: quay.io/kubespray/vm-{{ cloud_image }}
-        - name: cloudinitvolume
-          cloudInitNoCloud:
-            userDataBase64: {{ cloud_init[cloud_image] }}
+        bridge: {}
+    cpu:
+        cores: {{ vm_cpu_cores }}
+        sockets: {{ vm_cpu_sockets }}
+        threads: {{ vm_cpu_threads }}
+    resources:
+      requests:
+        memory: "{{ vm_memory * memory_allocation_ratio }}Mi"
+        cpu: {{ vm_cpu_cores * cpu_allocation_ratio }}
+      limits:
+        memory: "{{ vm_memory }}Mi"
+        cpu: {{ vm_cpu_cores }}
+  networks:
+  - name: default
+    pod: {}
+  terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 0
+  volumes:
+    - name: containervolume
+      containerDisk:
+        image: quay.io/kubespray/vm-{{ cloud_image }}
+    - name: cloudinitvolume
+      cloudInitNoCloud:
+        userDataBase64: {{ cloud_init[cloud_image] }}
diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/vars/main.yml b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/vars/main.yml
index ba448587d..8eb9c7dbe 100644
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/vars/main.yml
+++ b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/vars/main.yml
@@ -1,11 +1,37 @@
 ---
-_vm_count_dict:
-  separate: 3
-  ha: 3
-  ha-recover: 3
-  ha-recover-noquorum: 3
-  all-in-one: 1
-  node-etcd-client: 4
-  default: 2
+# This is a list of nodes with groups for each scenario/cluster layouts
+scenarios:
+  separate:
+    - ['kube_control_plane']
+    - ['kube_node']
+    - ['etcd']
+  ha:
+    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd']
+    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd']
+    - ['kube_node', 'etcd']
+  default:
+    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd']
+    - ['kube_node']
+  all-in-one:
+    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd', 'kube_node']
+  ha-recover:
+    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd']
+    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd', 'broken_kube_control_plane', 'broken_etcd']
+    - ['kube_node', 'etcd']
+  ha-recover-noquorum:
+    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd', 'broken_kube_control_plane', 'broken_etcd']
+    - ['kube_control_plane', 'etcd', 'broken_kube_control_plane', 'broken_etcd']
+    - ['kube_node', 'etcd']
+  node-etcd-client:
+    - ['kube_node', 'kube_control_plane', 'etcd']
+    - ['kube_node', 'etcd']
+    - ['kube_node', 'etcd']
+    - ['kube_node']
 
-vm_count: "{{ _vm_count_dict[mode | d('default')] }}"
+# Get pod metadata / CI vars from environment
+
+ci_job_id: "{{ lookup('ansible.builtin.env', 'CI_JOB_ID', default=undefined) }}"
+ci_job_name: "{{ lookup('ansible.builtin.env', 'CI_JOB_NAME', default=undefined) }}"
+pod_name: "{{ lookup('ansible.builtin.env', 'POD_NAME', default=undefined) }}"
+pod_uid: "{{ lookup('ansible.builtin.env', 'POD_UID', default=undefined) }}"
+pod_namespace: "{{ lookup('ansible.builtin.env', 'POD_NAMESPACE', default=undefined) }}"
diff --git a/tests/common/_kubespray_test_settings.yml b/tests/common/_kubespray_test_settings.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 67da05c50..000000000
--- a/tests/common/_kubespray_test_settings.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
----
-# Kubespray settings for tests
-deploy_netchecker: true
-dns_min_replicas: 1
-unsafe_show_logs: true
diff --git a/tests/common/_docker_hub_registry_mirror.yml b/tests/common_vars.yml
similarity index 95%
rename from tests/common/_docker_hub_registry_mirror.yml
rename to tests/common_vars.yml
index 8875d2173..a8645ba26 100644
--- a/tests/common/_docker_hub_registry_mirror.yml
+++ b/tests/common_vars.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
 ---
+# Kubespray settings for tests
+deploy_netchecker: true
+dns_min_replicas: 1
+unsafe_show_logs: true
+
+# Registry mirrors settings
 docker_registry_mirrors:
   - "https://mirror.gcr.io"
 
@@ -34,7 +40,3 @@ nginx_image_repo: "{{ quay_image_repo }}/kubespray/nginx"
 
 flannel_image_repo: "{{ quay_image_repo }}/kubespray/flannel"
 flannel_init_image_repo: "{{ quay_image_repo }}/kubespray/flannel-cni-plugin"
-
-# Kubespray settings for tests
-deploy_netchecker: true
-dns_min_replicas: 1
diff --git a/tests/scripts/testcases_cleanup.sh b/tests/scripts/testcases_cleanup.sh
index 71b7fdc5b..199784490 100755
--- a/tests/scripts/testcases_cleanup.sh
+++ b/tests/scripts/testcases_cleanup.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -euxo pipefail
 
-cd tests && make delete-${CI_PLATFORM} -s ; cd -
+make -C tests delete-${CI_PLATFORM} -s
 
 if [ -d ~/.ara ] ; then
   tar czvf ${CI_PROJECT_DIR}/cluster-dump/ara.tgz ~/.ara
diff --git a/tests/scripts/testcases_run.sh b/tests/scripts/testcases_run.sh
index db689b8c0..66eabcc8f 100755
--- a/tests/scripts/testcases_run.sh
+++ b/tests/scripts/testcases_run.sh
@@ -18,10 +18,9 @@ fi
 # Check out latest tag if testing upgrade
 if [ "${UPGRADE_TEST}" != "false" ]; then
   git fetch --all && git checkout "$KUBESPRAY_VERSION"
-  # Checkout the CI vars file so it is available
-  git checkout "${CI_COMMIT_SHA}" tests/files/${CI_JOB_NAME}.yml
-  git checkout "${CI_COMMIT_SHA}" ${CI_TEST_REGISTRY_MIRROR}
-  git checkout "${CI_COMMIT_SHA}" ${CI_TEST_SETTING}
+  # Checkout the current tests/ directory ; even when testing old version,
+  # we want the up-to-date test setup/provisionning
+  git checkout "${CI_COMMIT_SHA}" -- tests/
 fi
 
 # needed for ara not to complain
@@ -31,8 +30,9 @@ export ANSIBLE_REMOTE_USER=$SSH_USER
 export ANSIBLE_BECOME=true
 export ANSIBLE_BECOME_USER=root
 export ANSIBLE_CALLBACK_PLUGINS="$(python -m ara.setup.callback_plugins)"
+export ANSIBLE_INVENTORY=${CI_PROJECT_DIR}/inventory/sample/
 
-cd tests && make create-${CI_PLATFORM} -s ; cd -
+make -C tests INVENTORY_DIR=${ANSIBLE_INVENTORY} create-${CI_PLATFORM} -s
 ansible-playbook tests/cloud_playbooks/wait-for-ssh.yml
 
 # Flatcar Container Linux needs auto update disabled
@@ -55,10 +55,8 @@ playbook=$1
 shift
 # We can set --limit here and still pass it as supplemental args because `--limit`  is a 'last one wins' option
 ansible-playbook \
-     $ANSIBLE_LOG_LEVEL \
-    -e @${CI_TEST_SETTING} \
-    -e @${CI_TEST_REGISTRY_MIRROR} \
-    -e @${CI_TEST_VARS} \
+    -e @tests/common_vars.yml \
+    -e @tests/files/${CI_JOB_NAME}.yml \
     -e local_release_dir=${PWD}/downloads \
     "$@" \
     ${playbook}