diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7a665462f..dc803bc4f 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -157,13 +157,13 @@ add-license-headers: $(GO_ADD_LICENSE)
 	@./hack/addlicenseheaders.sh ${YEAR}
 	
 .PHONY: kind-up
-kind-up:
+kind-up: $(KIND)
 	@printf "\n\033[0;33m📌 NOTE: To target the newly created KinD cluster, please run the following command:\n\n    export KUBECONFIG=$(KUBECONFIG_PATH)\n\033[0m\n"
-	kind create cluster --name etcd-druid-e2e --config hack/e2e-test/infrastructure/kind/cluster.yaml 
+	./hack/kind-up.sh
 
 .PHONY: kind-down
-kind-down:
-	kind delete cluster --name etcd-druid-e2e
+kind-down: $(KIND)
+	$(KIND) delete cluster --name etcd-druid-e2e
 
 .PHONY: deploy-localstack
 deploy-localstack: $(KUBECTL)
diff --git a/hack/e2e-test/infrastructure/kind/cluster.yaml b/hack/e2e-test/infrastructure/kind/cluster.yaml
index aed30de27..8ff2f09ce 100644
--- a/hack/e2e-test/infrastructure/kind/cluster.yaml
+++ b/hack/e2e-test/infrastructure/kind/cluster.yaml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ kind: Cluster
 apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
 nodes:
 - role: control-plane
+  image: kindest/node:v1.27.1
   # port forward 80 on the host to 80 on this node
   extraPortMappings:
   - containerPort: 4566
diff --git a/hack/e2e-test/run-e2e-test.sh b/hack/e2e-test/run-e2e-test.sh
index bb0a3d39c..9e905b4a1 100755
--- a/hack/e2e-test/run-e2e-test.sh
+++ b/hack/e2e-test/run-e2e-test.sh
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ function test_e2e {
       echo "-------------------"
 
       SOURCE_PATH=$PWD \
-      go test -timeout=0 -mod=vendor ./test/e2e --v -args -ginkgo.v -ginkgo.progress
+      go test -timeout=0 -mod=vendor ./test/e2e --v -args -ginkgo.v -ginkgo.show-node-events
     fi
 }
 
diff --git a/hack/kind-up.sh b/hack/kind-up.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..af9d90cec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/kind-up.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Copyright 2023 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. This file is licensed under the Apache Software License, v. 2 except as noted otherwise in the LICENSE file.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+
+set -o errexit
+set -o nounset
+set -o pipefail
+
+source $(dirname "${0}")/../vendor/github.com/gardener/gardener/hack/ci-common.sh
+
+clamp_mss_to_pmtu
+
+kind create cluster --name etcd-druid-e2e --config hack/e2e-test/infrastructure/kind/cluster.yaml
diff --git a/hack/test.sh b/hack/test.sh
index 5545174b9..fe867c093 100755
--- a/hack/test.sh
+++ b/hack/test.sh
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ fi
 export KUBEBUILDER_CONTROLPLANE_START_TIMEOUT=2m
 export GOMEGA_DEFAULT_EVENTUALLY_TIMEOUT=5s
 export GOMEGA_DEFAULT_EVENTUALLY_POLLING_INTERVAL=200ms
-GINKGO_COMMON_FLAGS="-r -timeout=1h0m0s --randomize-all --randomize-suites --fail-on-pending --progress"
+GINKGO_COMMON_FLAGS="-r -timeout=1h0m0s --randomize-all --randomize-suites --fail-on-pending --show-node-events"
 
 if ${TEST_COV:-false}; then
   output_dir=test/output