diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/esql/qa/testFixtures/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/CsvTestsDataLoader.java b/x-pack/plugin/esql/qa/testFixtures/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/CsvTestsDataLoader.java
index 649ce00ef53ec..7138b0efe53ce 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/esql/qa/testFixtures/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/CsvTestsDataLoader.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/esql/qa/testFixtures/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/CsvTestsDataLoader.java
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 import org.apache.http.client.CredentialsProvider;
 import org.apache.http.impl.client.BasicCredentialsProvider;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.plugins.util.PluginManager;
-import org.apache.lucene.util.IOConsumer;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.Request;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.Response;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.ResponseException;
@@ -31,7 +30,6 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.inference.TaskType;
 import org.elasticsearch.logging.LogManager;
 import org.elasticsearch.logging.Logger;
-import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.rest.ESRestTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.XContentType;
 
@@ -45,7 +43,6 @@
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
-import java.util.concurrent.Semaphore;
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
@@ -58,7 +55,6 @@
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.EsqlTestUtils.reader;
 
 public class CsvTestsDataLoader {
-    private static final int PARALLEL_THREADS = 10;
     private static final int BULK_DATA_SIZE = 100_000;
     private static final TestDataset EMPLOYEES = new TestDataset("employees", "mapping-default.json", "employees.csv").noSubfields();
     private static final TestDataset EMPLOYEES_INCOMPATIBLE = new TestDataset(
@@ -404,35 +400,16 @@ private static void loadDataSetIntoEs(
         IndexCreator indexCreator
     ) throws IOException {
         Logger logger = LogManager.getLogger(CsvTestsDataLoader.class);
-        List<TestDataset> datasets = availableDatasetsForEs(supportsIndexModeLookup, supportsSourceFieldMapping, inferenceEnabled).stream()
-            .toList();
 
-        executeInParallel(datasets, dataset -> createIndex(client, dataset, indexCreator), "Failed to create indices in parallel");
-
-        executeInParallel(datasets, dataset -> loadData(client, dataset, logger), "Failed to load data in parallel");
-
-        forceMerge(client, datasets.stream().map(d -> d.indexName).collect(Collectors.toSet()), logger);
-
-        executeInParallel(
-            ENRICH_POLICIES,
-            policy -> loadEnrichPolicy(client, policy.policyName, policy.policyFileName, logger),
-            "Failed to load enrich policies in parallel"
-        );
-
-    }
-
-    private static <T> void executeInParallel(List<T> items, IOConsumer<T> consumer, String errorMessage) {
-        Semaphore semaphore = new Semaphore(PARALLEL_THREADS);
-        ESTestCase.runInParallel(items.size(), i -> {
-            try {
-                semaphore.acquire();
-                consumer.accept(items.get(i));
-            } catch (IOException | InterruptedException e) {
-                throw new RuntimeException(errorMessage, e);
-            } finally {
-                semaphore.release();
-            }
-        });
+        Set<String> loadedDatasets = new HashSet<>();
+        for (var dataset : availableDatasetsForEs(supportsIndexModeLookup, supportsSourceFieldMapping, inferenceEnabled)) {
+            load(client, dataset, logger, indexCreator);
+            loadedDatasets.add(dataset.indexName);
+        }
+        forceMerge(client, loadedDatasets, logger);
+        for (var policy : ENRICH_POLICIES) {
+            loadEnrichPolicy(client, policy.policyName, policy.policyFileName, logger);
+        }
     }
 
     public static void createInferenceEndpoints(RestClient client) throws IOException {
@@ -589,13 +566,11 @@ private static URL getResource(String name) {
         return result;
     }
 
-    private static void createIndex(RestClient client, TestDataset dataset, IndexCreator indexCreator) throws IOException {
+    private static void load(RestClient client, TestDataset dataset, Logger logger, IndexCreator indexCreator) throws IOException {
         URL mapping = getResource("/" + dataset.mappingFileName);
         Settings indexSettings = dataset.readSettingsFile();
         indexCreator.createIndex(client, dataset.indexName, readMappingFile(mapping, dataset.typeMapping), indexSettings);
-    }
 
-    private static void loadData(RestClient client, TestDataset dataset, Logger logger) throws IOException {
         // Some examples only test that the query and mappings are valid, and don't need example data. Use .noData() for those
         if (dataset.dataFileName != null) {
             URL data = getResource("/data/" + dataset.dataFileName);
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/esql/qa/testFixtures/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/CsvTestsDataLoaderTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/esql/qa/testFixtures/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/CsvTestsDataLoaderTests.java
index 612e007c4b13f..5b40e1d03e92f 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/esql/qa/testFixtures/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/CsvTestsDataLoaderTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/esql/qa/testFixtures/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/CsvTestsDataLoaderTests.java
@@ -11,18 +11,12 @@
 
 import java.net.ConnectException;
 
-import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.instanceOf;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.startsWith;
 
 public class CsvTestsDataLoaderTests extends ESTestCase {
 
     public void testCsvTestsDataLoaderExecution() {
-        Throwable cause = expectThrows(AssertionError.class, () -> CsvTestsDataLoader.main(new String[] {}));
-        // find the root cause
-        while (cause.getCause() != null) {
-            cause = cause.getCause();
-        }
-        assertThat(cause, instanceOf(ConnectException.class));
-        assertThat(cause.getMessage(), startsWith("Connection refused"));
+        ConnectException ce = expectThrows(ConnectException.class, () -> CsvTestsDataLoader.main(new String[] {}));
+        assertThat(ce.getMessage(), startsWith("Connection refused"));
     }
 }