diff --git a/recipe/meta.yaml b/recipe/meta.yaml
index 7639018..e589185 100644
--- a/recipe/meta.yaml
+++ b/recipe/meta.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {% set name = "ESMValCore" %}
-{% set version = "2.8.0rc2" %}
+{% set version = "2.8.1rc1" %}
 
 package:
   name: {{ name|lower }}
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ package:
 
 source:
   url: https://pypi.io/packages/source/{{ name[0] }}/{{ name }}/{{ name }}-{{ version }}.tar.gz
-  sha256: 9697c71dc08ee434980a00ca9a38573e63d467f1dd99d8bb75aff6ecedad33be
+  sha256: fca5068de6d1df2fd857b0369ff0810b46212e210aaeaec5d5f8f85b699e0db3
 
 build:
   # Increment the build number when building a new conda package of the same
@@ -20,13 +20,13 @@ build:
 requirements:
   host:
     - git
-    - python >=3.8,<3.11
+    - python >=3.8
     - pip !=21.3
     - pytest-runner
     - setuptools_scm
   run:
     # esmvaltool
-    - python >=3.8,<3.11
+    - python >=3.8
     - iris >=3.4.0
     - python-stratify
     - scipy >=1.6
@@ -36,20 +36,20 @@ requirements:
     - cf-units
     - dask
     - esgf-pyclient >=0.3.1
-    - esmpy !=8.1.0,<8.4.0
+    - esmpy !=8.1.0
     - filelock
     - fiona
     - fire
     - geopy
     - humanfriendly
     - importlib_resources
-    - iris-esmf-regrid
+    - iris-esmf-regrid >=0.6.0  # to work with latest esmpy
     - isodate
     - jinja2
     - nc-time-axis
     - nested-lookup
     - netCDF4
-    - numpy
+    - numpy !=1.24.3  # severe bug in masked arrays
     - packaging
     - pandas
     - pillow