diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/vm.yml.j2 b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/vm.yml.j2
index 371656b73..f5f7cc02a 100644
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/vm.yml.j2
+++ b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/vm.yml.j2
@@ -1,13 +1,21 @@
 ---
-apiVersion: kubevirt.io/v1alpha3
+apiVersion: kubevirt.io/v1
 kind: VirtualMachine
 metadata:
-  name: "instance-{{ vm_id }}"
-  namespace: "{{ test_name }}"
+  generateName: test-vm-
+  namespace: {{ pod_namespace }}
   annotations:
     kubespray.com/ci.template-path: "tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/templates/vm.yml.j2"
   labels:
     kubevirt.io/os: {{ cloud_image }}
+    ci_job_id: "{{ ci_job_id }}"
+    ci_job_name: "{{ ci_job_name }}"
+  # leverage the Kubernetes GC for resources cleanup
+  ownerReferences:
+  - apiVersion: v1
+    kind: Pod
+    name: "{{ pod_name }}"
+    uid: "{{ pod_uid }}"
 spec:
   running: true
   template:
diff --git a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/vars/main.yml b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/vars/main.yml
index ba448587d..103da858b 100644
--- a/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/vars/main.yml
+++ b/tests/cloud_playbooks/roles/packet-ci/vars/main.yml
@@ -9,3 +9,11 @@ _vm_count_dict:
   default: 2
 
 vm_count: "{{ _vm_count_dict[mode | d('default')] }}"
+
+# Get pod metadata / CI vars from environment
+
+ci_job_id: "{{ lookup('ansible.builtin.env', 'CI_JOB_ID', default=undefined) }}"
+ci_job_name: "{{ lookup('ansible.builtin.env', 'CI_JOB_NAME', default=undefined) }}"
+pod_name: "{{ lookup('ansible.builtin.env', 'POD_NAME', default=undefined) }}"
+pod_uid: "{{ lookup('ansible.builtin.env', 'POD_UID', default=undefined) }}"
+pod_namespace: "{{ lookup('ansible.builtin.env', 'POD_NAMESPACE', default=undefined) }}"