diff --git a/tests/e2e/scenarios/lib/common.sh b/tests/e2e/scenarios/lib/common.sh
index 117d27bda3..7b2e8845bd 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/scenarios/lib/common.sh
+++ b/tests/e2e/scenarios/lib/common.sh
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ function kops-channels-download-from-base() {
 
 function kops-base-from-marker() {
     if [[ "${1}" =~ ^https: ]]; then
-        echo "${1}"
+        curl -s "${1}"
     elif [[ "${1}" == "latest" ]]; then
         curl -s "https://storage.googleapis.com/kops-ci/bin/latest-ci-updown-green.txt"
     else
diff --git a/tests/e2e/scenarios/upgrade-ab/run-test.sh b/tests/e2e/scenarios/upgrade-ab/run-test.sh
index 7c2b19e3e4..3feed51710 100755
--- a/tests/e2e/scenarios/upgrade-ab/run-test.sh
+++ b/tests/e2e/scenarios/upgrade-ab/run-test.sh
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ if [ -z "${KOPS_VERSION_A-}" ] || [ -z "${K8S_VERSION_A-}" ] || [ -z "${KOPS_VER
   exit 1
 fi
 
+TEST_PACKAGE_VERSION="${K8S_VERSION_B}"
+
 if [[ "$K8S_VERSION_A" == "latest" ]]; then
   K8S_VERSION_A=$(curl https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/latest.txt)
 fi
@@ -39,6 +41,9 @@ if [[ "$K8S_VERSION_A" == "ci" ]]; then
 fi
 if [[ "$K8S_VERSION_B" == "ci" ]]; then
   K8S_VERSION_B=https://storage.googleapis.com/k8s-release-dev/ci/$(curl https://storage.googleapis.com/k8s-release-dev/ci/latest.txt)
+  TEST_PACKAGE_MARKER="latest.txt"
+  TEST_PACKAGE_DIR="ci"
+  TEST_PACKAGE_BUCKET="k8s-release-dev"
 fi
 
 export KOPS_BASE_URL
@@ -127,10 +132,22 @@ if [[ -n ${KOPS_SKIP_E2E:-} ]]; then
   exit
 fi
 
+
+test_package_args="--parallel 25"
+test_package_args+=" --test-package-dir=${TEST_PACKAGE_DIR-}"
+test_package_args+=" --test-package-bucket=${TEST_PACKAGE_BUCKET-}"
+
+if [[ -n ${TEST_PACKAGE_MARKER-} ]]; then
+  test_package_args+=" --test-package-marker=${TEST_PACKAGE_MARKER}"
+else
+  test_package_args+=" --test-package-version=${TEST_PACKAGE_VERSION}"
+fi
+
+# shellcheck disable=SC2086
 ${KUBETEST2} \
     --cloud-provider="${CLOUD_PROVIDER}" \
     --kops-binary-path="${KOPS}" \
     --test=kops \
     -- \
-    --test-package-version="${K8S_VERSION_B}" \
+    $test_package_args \
     --parallel 25