diff --git a/.github/release/clusters/logos-storage-rel-tests-gcp-europe-west4/main.tf b/.github/release/clusters/logos-storage-rel-tests-gcp-europe-west4/main.tf
index 1413c0d1..bf28c396 100644
--- a/.github/release/clusters/logos-storage-rel-tests-gcp-europe-west4/main.tf
+++ b/.github/release/clusters/logos-storage-rel-tests-gcp-europe-west4/main.tf
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Kubernetes cluster
+# Kubernetes cluster — runners-ci pool is configured inline in the module
 module "gke" {
   source = "../modules/gke"
 
@@ -7,40 +7,15 @@ module "gke" {
   region                     = var.region
   zone                       = var.zone
   kubernetes_release_channel = "STABLE"
-  node_pool_name             = "infra-e2-standard-4"
-  node_pool_machine_type     = "e2-standard-4"
+  node_pool_name             = "runners-ci-e2-standard-2"
+  node_pool_machine_type     = "e2-standard-2"
   node_pool_min              = 1
-  node_pool_max              = 3
+  node_pool_max              = 5
   node_pool_labels = {
-    default-pool  = "true"
-    scaling-type  = "auto"
-    workload-type = "infra"
-  }
-}
-
-# Node pool - Runners CI
-resource "google_container_node_pool" "runners-ci" {
-  name     = "runners-ci-e2-standard-2"
-  cluster  = module.gke.kubernetes_cluster_id
-  location = var.zone
-  project  = var.project
-
-  autoscaling {
-    min_node_count = 1
-    max_node_count = 5
-  }
-
-  node_config {
-    machine_type = "e2-standard-2"
-    labels = {
-      allow-tests-pods = "false"
-      default-pool     = "false"
-      scaling-type     = "auto"
-      workload-type    = "tests-runners-ci"
-    }
-    oauth_scopes = [
-      "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform",
-    ]
+    allow-tests-pods = "false"
+    default-pool     = "true"
+    scaling-type     = "auto"
+    workload-type    = "tests-runners-ci"
   }
 }
 
@@ -52,12 +27,13 @@ resource "google_container_node_pool" "tests-pods" {
   project  = var.project
 
   autoscaling {
-    min_node_count = 1
+    min_node_count = 0
     max_node_count = 10
   }
 
   node_config {
     machine_type = "e2-medium"
+    spot         = true
     labels = {
       allow-tests-pods = "true"
       default-pool     = "false"
diff --git a/.github/release/clusters/modules/gke/main.tf b/.github/release/clusters/modules/gke/main.tf
index 4a00adf3..e42c8040 100644
--- a/.github/release/clusters/modules/gke/main.tf
+++ b/.github/release/clusters/modules/gke/main.tf
@@ -1,13 +1,10 @@
-# Kubernetes cluster
+# Kubernetes cluster — runners-ci pool configured inline to avoid the
+# remove_default_node_pool create-then-delete cycle that adds ~5 min.
 resource "google_container_cluster" "this" {
   name     = local.name
   location = var.zone
   project  = var.project
 
-  # Create an empty cluster — all node pools are managed as separate resources
-  remove_default_node_pool = true
-  initial_node_count       = 1
-
   deletion_protection = false
 
   release_channel {
@@ -22,26 +19,23 @@ resource "google_container_cluster" "this" {
   # Send pod stdout/stderr to Cloud Logging automatically
   logging_service    = "logging.googleapis.com/kubernetes"
   monitoring_service = "monitoring.googleapis.com/kubernetes"
-}
 
-# Default (infra) node pool
-resource "google_container_node_pool" "default" {
-  name     = var.node_pool_name
-  cluster  = google_container_cluster.this.id
-  location = var.zone
-  project  = var.project
+  node_pool {
+    name               = var.node_pool_name
+    initial_node_count = var.node_pool_min
 
-  autoscaling {
-    min_node_count = var.node_pool_min
-    max_node_count = var.node_pool_max
-  }
+    autoscaling {
+      min_node_count = var.node_pool_min
+      max_node_count = var.node_pool_max
+    }
 
-  node_config {
-    machine_type = var.node_pool_machine_type
-    labels       = var.node_pool_labels
+    node_config {
+      machine_type = var.node_pool_machine_type
+      labels       = var.node_pool_labels
 
-    oauth_scopes = [
-      "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform",
-    ]
+      oauth_scopes = [
+        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform",
+      ]
+    }
   }
 }
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 5473e43a..c5374acc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -205,6 +205,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     if: github.ref_type == 'tag' || github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch'
     needs: build-docker-dist-tests
+    timeout-minutes: 60
     permissions:
       id-token: write
       contents: read
@@ -212,6 +213,7 @@ jobs:
       TF_VAR_project: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_TESTS_GCP_PROJECT }}
       TF_VAR_region: europe-west4
       TF_VAR_zone: europe-west4-b
+      TF_PLUGIN_CACHE_DIR: ~/.terraform.d/plugin-cache
       STORAGEDOCKERIMAGE: ${{ needs.build-docker-dist-tests.outputs.logos_storage_image }}
       TEST_TYPE: release-tests
       BRANCH: ${{ inputs.branch || 'master' }}
@@ -221,6 +223,13 @@ jobs:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
+      - name: Cache Terraform plugins
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
+        with:
+          path: ~/.terraform.d/plugin-cache
+          key: terraform-google-${{ hashFiles(format('{0}/.terraform.lock.hcl', env.TF_DIR)) }}
+          restore-keys: terraform-google-
+
       - name: Authenticate to GCP
         uses: google-github-actions/auth@v2
         with:
@@ -229,6 +238,8 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Setup gcloud
         uses: google-github-actions/setup-gcloud@v2
+        with:
+          install_components: gke-gcloud-auth-plugin
 
       - name: Setup Terraform
         uses: hashicorp/setup-terraform@v3