diff --git a/hack/deployer/runner/eks.go b/hack/deployer/runner/eks.go
index b820f2a60f..2e1d9f3581 100644
--- a/hack/deployer/runner/eks.go
+++ b/hack/deployer/runner/eks.go
@@ -39,10 +39,10 @@ metadata:
     {{- end }}
 nodeGroups:
   - name: ng-1
-    amiFamily: AmazonLinux2023
+    amiFamily: Bottlerocket
+    ami: ami-0f3220830bd022670
     instanceType: {{.MachineType}}
     desiredCapacity: {{.NodeCount}}
-    ami: {{.NodeAMI}}
     iam:
       instanceProfileARN: {{.InstanceProfileARN}}
       instanceRoleARN: {{.InstanceRoleARN}}
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ func (e *EKSDriver) Execute() error {
 			if err := os.WriteFile(createCfgFile, createCfg.Bytes(), 0600); err != nil {
 				return fmt.Errorf("while writing create cfg %w", err)
 			}
+			log.Printf("Cluster create cfg written to %s, contents: %s", createCfgFile, createCfg.String())
 			if err := e.newCmd(`eksctl create cluster -v 1 -f {{.CreateCfgFile}}`).Run(); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
diff --git a/test/e2e/cmd/run/run.go b/test/e2e/cmd/run/run.go
index 60044ccb1b..67dd7c0796 100644
--- a/test/e2e/cmd/run/run.go
+++ b/test/e2e/cmd/run/run.go
@@ -35,12 +35,12 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	jobTimeout           = 900 * time.Minute // time to wait for the test job to finish
-	kubePollInterval     = 10 * time.Second  // Kube API polling interval
-	testRunLabel         = "test-run"        // name of the label applied to resources
-	logStreamLabel       = "stream-logs"     // name of the label enabling log streaming to e2e runner
-	testsLogFilePattern  = "job-%s.json"     // name of file to keep all test logs in JSON format
-	operatorReadyTimeout = 12 * time.Minute  // time to wait for the operator pod to be ready
+	jobTimeout           = 4320 * time.Minute // time to wait for the test job to finish
+	kubePollInterval     = 10 * time.Second   // Kube API polling interval
+	testRunLabel         = "test-run"         // name of the label applied to resources
+	logStreamLabel       = "stream-logs"      // name of the label enabling log streaming to e2e runner
+	testsLogFilePattern  = "job-%s.json"      // name of file to keep all test logs in JSON format
+	operatorReadyTimeout = 12 * time.Minute   // time to wait for the operator pod to be ready
 
 	TestNameLabel = "test-name" // name of the label applied to resources during each test