diff --git a/.drone.yml b/.drone.yml
index 82c2d62328..4510c2ea89 100644
--- a/.drone.yml
+++ b/.drone.yml
@@ -648,7 +648,7 @@ steps:
     if [ "$DRONE_BUILD_EVENT" = "pull_request" ]; then
       cd ../upgradecluster
       vagrant destroy -f
-      E2E_RELEASE_CHANNEL="latest" go test -v -timeout=45m ./upgradecluster_test.go  -ci -local
+      go test -v -timeout=45m ./upgradecluster_test.go  -ci -local
       cp ./coverage.out /tmp/artifacts/upgrade-coverage.out
     fi
   - docker stop registry && docker rm registry
diff --git a/tests/e2e/upgradecluster/Vagrantfile b/tests/e2e/upgradecluster/Vagrantfile
index 9282b99ad9..4018f44f8b 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/upgradecluster/Vagrantfile
+++ b/tests/e2e/upgradecluster/Vagrantfile
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ NODE_ROLES = (ENV['E2E_NODE_ROLES'] ||
   ["server-0", "server-1", "server-2", "agent-0", "agent-1"])
 NODE_BOXES = (ENV['E2E_NODE_BOXES'] ||
   ['generic/ubuntu2310', 'generic/ubuntu2310', 'generic/ubuntu2310', 'generic/ubuntu2310', 'generic/ubuntu2310'])
-RELEASE_CHANNEL = (ENV['E2E_RELEASE_CHANNEL'] || "latest")
+RELEASE_CHANNEL = (ENV['E2E_RELEASE_CHANNEL'] || "v1.27")
 RELEASE_VERSION = (ENV['E2E_RELEASE_VERSION'] || "")
 EXTERNAL_DB = (ENV['E2E_EXTERNAL_DB'] || "etcd")
 REGISTRY = (ENV['E2E_REGISTRY'] || "")