@@ -2,8 +2,15 @@
 
 @test "Create a VM Disk" {
   name='test'
-  kubectl -n tenant-test delete vminstances.apps.cozystack.io $name --ignore-not-found --timeout=2m || true
-  kubectl -n tenant-test delete vmdisks.apps.cozystack.io $name --ignore-not-found --timeout=2m || true
+  # Delete any leftover from a previous run and BLOCK until removal completes.
+  # `kubectl apply` on a resource still in finalizer-drain silently no-ops
+  # ("Detected changes to resource ... which is currently being deleted"),
+  # which then races a NotFound on the downstream HR wait. The previous
+  # `|| true` swallowed timeout errors here and let the test continue with
+  # the old VMDisk still draining. Bumped timeout to 3m and removed `|| true`
+  # so a true delete failure surfaces immediately.
+  kubectl -n tenant-test delete vminstances.apps.cozystack.io $name --ignore-not-found --timeout=3m
+  kubectl -n tenant-test delete vmdisks.apps.cozystack.io $name --ignore-not-found --timeout=3m
   kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
 apiVersion: apps.cozystack.io/v1alpha1
 kind: VMDisk
@@ -18,7 +25,9 @@ spec:
   storage: 5Gi
   storageClass: replicated
 EOF
-  sleep 5
+  # Wait for the operator to materialise the HelmRelease before kubectl wait
+  # kicks in (kubectl wait errors immediately if the object does not exist yet).
+  timeout 60 sh -ec "until kubectl -n tenant-test get hr vm-disk-$name >/dev/null 2>&1; do sleep 2; done"
   kubectl -n tenant-test wait hr vm-disk-$name --timeout=5s --for=condition=ready
   kubectl -n tenant-test wait dv vm-disk-$name --timeout=250s --for=condition=ready
   kubectl -n tenant-test wait pvc vm-disk-$name --timeout=200s --for=jsonpath='{.status.phase}'=Bound
@@ -27,7 +36,9 @@ EOF
 @test "Create a VM Instance" {
   diskName='test'
   name='test'
-  kubectl -n tenant-test delete vminstances.apps.cozystack.io $name --ignore-not-found --timeout=2m || true
+  # Same delete-finalizer-drain race as in "Create a VM Disk" above —
+  # block until removal completes, surface timeouts loudly.
+  kubectl -n tenant-test delete vminstances.apps.cozystack.io $name --ignore-not-found --timeout=3m
   kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
 apiVersion: apps.cozystack.io/v1alpha1
 kind: VMInstance
@@ -59,10 +70,16 @@ spec:
           - ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIPht0dPk5qQ+54g1hSX7A6AUxXJW5T6n/3d7Ga2F8gTF test@test
   cloudInitSeed: ""
 EOF
-  sleep 5
-  timeout 20 sh -ec "until kubectl -n tenant-test get vmi vm-instance-$name -o jsonpath='{.status.interfaces[0].ipAddress}' | grep -q '[0-9]'; do sleep 5; done"
+  # Wait for the operator to materialise the HelmRelease before downstream
+  # waits proceed (kubectl wait errors immediately if the HR does not exist).
+  timeout 60 sh -ec "until kubectl -n tenant-test get hr vm-instance-$name >/dev/null 2>&1; do sleep 2; done"
+  # Nested KubeVirt VM startup (virt-launcher + libvirt + cloud-init DHCP)
+  # routinely takes 30-60s under runner load; the previous 20s was unrealistic
+  # and produced flakes. 120s is a comfortable upper bound for nested virt.
+  timeout 120 sh -ec "until kubectl -n tenant-test get vmi vm-instance-$name -o jsonpath='{.status.interfaces[0].ipAddress}' | grep -q '[0-9]'; do sleep 2; done"
   kubectl -n tenant-test wait hr vm-instance-$name --timeout=5s --for=condition=ready
-  kubectl -n tenant-test wait vm vm-instance-$name --timeout=20s --for=condition=ready
-  kubectl -n tenant-test delete vminstances.apps.cozystack.io $name 
-  kubectl -n tenant-test delete vmdisks.apps.cozystack.io $diskName 
+  # VM ready follows IP assignment closely; 60s gives buffer for the qemu-guest-agent.
+  kubectl -n tenant-test wait vm vm-instance-$name --timeout=60s --for=condition=ready
+  kubectl -n tenant-test delete vminstances.apps.cozystack.io $name --timeout=3m
+  kubectl -n tenant-test delete vmdisks.apps.cozystack.io $diskName --timeout=3m
 }