diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8d1184b2e..26b7b8424 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ test: $(SETUP_ENVTEST) ## Run unit and integration tests
 	KUBEBUILDER_ASSETS="$(KUBEBUILDER_ASSETS)" go test ./... $(TEST_ARGS)
 
 # Allow overriding the e2e configurations
-GINKGO_FOCUS ?= Workload cluster creation
+GINKGO_FOCUS ?= Workload cluster creation|GKE workload cluster creation
 GINKGO_SKIP ?= API Version Upgrade
 GINKGO_NODES ?= 1
 GINKGO_NOCOLOR ?= false
diff --git a/test/e2e/config/gcp-ci.yaml b/test/e2e/config/gcp-ci.yaml
index 23057345e..ac8de8e7d 100644
--- a/test/e2e/config/gcp-ci.yaml
+++ b/test/e2e/config/gcp-ci.yaml
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ providers:
 variables:
   KUBERNETES_VERSION: "v1.32.5"
   KUBERNETES_VERSION_MANAGEMENT: "v1.32.5"
+  KUBERNETES_VERSION_GKE: "v1.32.4"
   ETCD_VERSION_UPGRADE_TO: "3.5.16-0"
   COREDNS_VERSION_UPGRADE_TO: "v1.11.3"
   KUBERNETES_IMAGE_UPGRADE_FROM: "projects/k8s-staging-cluster-api-gcp/global/images/cluster-api-ubuntu-2204-v1-32-5-nightly"
diff --git a/test/e2e/data/infrastructure-gcp/cluster-template-ci-gke.yaml b/test/e2e/data/infrastructure-gcp/cluster-template-ci-gke.yaml
index 72c9d4108..61ac5f3f4 100644
--- a/test/e2e/data/infrastructure-gcp/cluster-template-ci-gke.yaml
+++ b/test/e2e/data/infrastructure-gcp/cluster-template-ci-gke.yaml
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ metadata:
 spec:
   project: "${GCP_PROJECT}"
   location: "${GCP_REGION}"
-  version: "${KUBERNETES_VERSION}"
+  version: "${KUBERNETES_VERSION_GKE}"
   releaseChannel: "regular"
 ---
 apiVersion: cluster.x-k8s.io/v1beta1
diff --git a/test/e2e/data/infrastructure-gcp/cluster-template-kcp-remediation.yaml b/test/e2e/data/infrastructure-gcp/cluster-template-kcp-remediation.yaml
index 1e2d03a92..ea2923113 100644
--- a/test/e2e/data/infrastructure-gcp/cluster-template-kcp-remediation.yaml
+++ b/test/e2e/data/infrastructure-gcp/cluster-template-kcp-remediation.yaml
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ spec:
         extraArgs:
           cloud-provider: external
           allocate-node-cidrs: "false"
-      kubernetesVersion: "${KUBERNETES_VERSION}"
+      kubernetesVersion: "${KUBERNETES_VERSION_GKE}"
     files:
     - content: |
         [Global]
diff --git a/test/e2e/e2e_gke_test.go b/test/e2e/e2e_gke_test.go
index 78e6ec53e..61e47b901 100644
--- a/test/e2e/e2e_gke_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/e2e_gke_test.go
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ var _ = Describe("GKE workload cluster creation", func() {
 		namespace           *corev1.Namespace
 		cancelWatches       context.CancelFunc
 		result              *ApplyManagedClusterTemplateAndWaitResult
-		clusterName         string
+		clusterNamePrefix   string
 		clusterctlLogFolder string
 	)
 
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ var _ = Describe("GKE workload cluster creation", func() {
 
 		Expect(e2eConfig.Variables).To(HaveKey(KubernetesVersion))
 
-		clusterName = fmt.Sprintf("capg-e2e-%s", util.RandomString(6))
+		clusterNamePrefix = fmt.Sprintf("capg-e2e-gke-%s", util.RandomString(6))
 
 		// Setup a Namespace where to host objects for this spec and create a watcher for the namespace events.
 		namespace, cancelWatches = setupSpecNamespace(ctx, specName, bootstrapClusterProxy, artifactFolder)
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ var _ = Describe("GKE workload cluster creation", func() {
 
 	Context("Creating a GKE cluster without autopilot", func() {
 		It("Should create a cluster with 1 machine pool and scale", func() {
+			clusterName := fmt.Sprintf("%s-single", clusterNamePrefix)
 			By("Initializes with 1 machine pool")
 
 			minPoolSize, ok := e2eConfig.Variables["GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MIN"]
@@ -103,7 +104,7 @@ var _ = Describe("GKE workload cluster creation", func() {
 					Flavor:                   "ci-gke",
 					Namespace:                namespace.Name,
 					ClusterName:              clusterName,
-					KubernetesVersion:        e2eConfig.MustGetVariable(KubernetesVersion),
+					KubernetesVersion:        e2eConfig.MustGetVariable(KubernetesVersionGKE),
 					ControlPlaneMachineCount: ptr.To[int64](1),
 					WorkerMachineCount:       ptr.To[int64](3),
 					ClusterctlVariables: map[string]string{
@@ -138,6 +139,7 @@ var _ = Describe("GKE workload cluster creation", func() {
 
 	Context("Creating a GKE cluster with autopilot", func() {
 		It("Should create a cluster with 1 machine pool and scale", func() {
+			clusterName := fmt.Sprintf("%s-autopilot", clusterNamePrefix)
 			By("Initializes with 1 machine pool")
 
 			ApplyManagedClusterTemplateAndWait(ctx, ApplyManagedClusterTemplateAndWaitInput{
@@ -163,6 +165,7 @@ var _ = Describe("GKE workload cluster creation", func() {
 
 	Context("Creating a GKE cluster with custom subnet", func() {
 		It("Should create a cluster with 3 machine pool and custom subnet", func() {
+			clusterName := fmt.Sprintf("%s-custom-subnet", clusterNamePrefix)
 			By("Initializes with 3 machine pool")
 
 			ApplyManagedClusterTemplateAndWait(ctx, ApplyManagedClusterTemplateAndWaitInput{
diff --git a/test/e2e/suite_test.go b/test/e2e/suite_test.go
index a205785d5..0895885b7 100644
--- a/test/e2e/suite_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/suite_test.go
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ import (
 const (
 	KubernetesVersion           = "KUBERNETES_VERSION"
 	KubernetesVersionManagement = "KUBERNETES_VERSION_MANAGEMENT"
+	KubernetesVersionGKE        = "KUBERNETES_VERSION_GKE"
 
 	CNIPath      = "CNI"
 	CNIResources = "CNI_RESOURCES"