diff --git a/.github/workflows/nfr.yml b/.github/workflows/nfr.yml
index 5808edb6bd..629c250f1e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/nfr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/nfr.yml
@@ -149,6 +149,7 @@ jobs:
         run: make create-gke-router || true
 
       - name: Run Tests
+        continue-on-error: true
         working-directory: ./tests
         run: |
           if ${{ needs.vars.outputs.test_label != 'all' }}; then
diff --git a/tests/scripts/run-tests-gcp-vm.sh b/tests/scripts/run-tests-gcp-vm.sh
index 3cff298694..bc36825454 100755
--- a/tests/scripts/run-tests-gcp-vm.sh
+++ b/tests/scripts/run-tests-gcp-vm.sh
@@ -15,11 +15,7 @@ gcloud compute ssh --zone "${GKE_CLUSTER_ZONE}" --project="${GKE_PROJECT}" usern
         bash -s" <"${SCRIPT_DIR}"/remote-scripts/run-nfr-tests.sh
 retcode=$?
 
-if [ ${retcode} -ne 0 ]; then
-    echo "Error running tests on VM"
-    exit 1
-fi
-
+## Download results regardless of test outcome (needed for debugging failures)
 ## Use rsync if running locally (faster); otherwise if in the pipeline don't download an SSH config
 if [ "${CI}" = "false" ]; then
     gcloud compute config-ssh --ssh-config-file ngf-gcp.ssh >/dev/null
@@ -28,6 +24,12 @@ else
     gcloud compute scp --zone "${GKE_CLUSTER_ZONE}" --project="${GKE_PROJECT}" --recurse username@"${RESOURCE_NAME}":~/nginx-gateway-fabric/tests/results .
 fi
 
+## Exit with error code after downloading results if tests failed
+if [ ${retcode} -ne 0 ]; then
+    echo "Error running tests on VM"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 ## If tearing down the longevity test, we need to collect logs from gcloud and add to the results
 if [ "${STOP_LONGEVITY}" = "true" ]; then
     version=${NGF_VERSION}