diff --git a/jenkinsfiles/ginkgo-gke.Jenkinsfile b/jenkinsfiles/ginkgo-gke.Jenkinsfile
index 741328b1bfd6..0c702e8e5d32 100644
--- a/jenkinsfiles/ginkgo-gke.Jenkinsfile
+++ b/jenkinsfiles/ginkgo-gke.Jenkinsfile
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ pipeline {
         TESTDIR="${WORKSPACE}/${PROJ_PATH}/test"
         GOPATH="${WORKSPACE}"
         GKE_KEY=credentials('gke-key')
+        GKE_ZONE="us-west1-a"
     }
 
     options {
diff --git a/test/gke/get-cluster-version.sh b/test/gke/get-cluster-version.sh
index 2e7a6150c684..30e34f4e2355 100755
--- a/test/gke/get-cluster-version.sh
+++ b/test/gke/get-cluster-version.sh
@@ -6,9 +6,6 @@
 
 set -e
 
-zone=europe-west4-a
-
-
 CLUSTER_NAME=$(cat ./gke/cluster-name)
-K8S_VERSION=$(gcloud container clusters list --filter "name:${CLUSTER_NAME}" | awk '{print $3}' | grep -v MASTER_VERSION | sed -E 's/([0-9]+\.[0-9]+)\..*/\1/')
+K8S_VERSION=$(gcloud container clusters list --zone $GKE_ZONE --filter "name:${CLUSTER_NAME}" | awk '{print $3}' | grep -v MASTER_VERSION | sed -E 's/([0-9]+\.[0-9]+)\..*/\1/')
 echo ${K8S_VERSION}
diff --git a/test/gke/release-cluster.sh b/test/gke/release-cluster.sh
index cec1098b52e8..d9df9eda88ba 100755
--- a/test/gke/release-cluster.sh
+++ b/test/gke/release-cluster.sh
@@ -2,12 +2,11 @@
 
 set -e
 
-zone=europe-west4-a
 export KUBECONFIG=gke-kubeconfig
 
 cluster=$(cat cluster-name)
 echo "scaling $cluster ng to 0"
-yes | gcloud container clusters resize $cluster --node-pool default-pool --num-nodes 0 --zone $zone
+yes | gcloud container clusters resize $cluster --node-pool default-pool --num-nodes 0 --zone $GKE_ZONE
 
 echo "releasing cluster lock from $cluster"
 kubectl annotate deployment lock lock-
diff --git a/test/gke/select-cluster.sh b/test/gke/select-cluster.sh
index 2bc786bb2f28..d6bea822f317 100755
--- a/test/gke/select-cluster.sh
+++ b/test/gke/select-cluster.sh
@@ -4,16 +4,15 @@ set -e
 
 locked=1
 
-zone=us-west1-a
 export KUBECONFIG=gke-kubeconfig
 
 while [ $locked -ne 0 ]; do
     rm gke-kubeconfig || true
     echo "selecting random cluster"
-    cluster=$(gcloud container clusters list --zone $zone | grep cilium-ci | sort -R | head -n 1 | awk '{print $1}')
+    cluster=$(gcloud container clusters list --zone $GKE_ZONE | grep cilium-ci | sort -R | head -n 1 | awk '{print $1}')
 
     echo "getting kubeconfig for $cluster"
-    gcloud container clusters get-credentials --zone $zone $cluster
+    gcloud container clusters get-credentials --zone $GKE_ZONE $cluster
 
     echo "aquiring cluster lock"
     set +e
@@ -33,7 +32,7 @@ echo "creating cilium ns"
 kubectl create ns cilium || true
 
 echo "scaling $cluster to 2"
-yes | gcloud container clusters resize $cluster --node-pool default-pool --num-nodes 2 --zone $zone
+yes | gcloud container clusters resize $cluster --node-pool default-pool --num-nodes 2 --zone $GKE_ZONE
 
 echo "labeling nodes"
 index=1