diff --git a/docs/release/release-tasks.md b/docs/release/release-tasks.md
index 5e253a8c76..b55f1180c5 100644
--- a/docs/release/release-tasks.md
+++ b/docs/release/release-tasks.md
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ This comes down to changing occurrences of the old version to the new version, e
       4. Remove old `metadata.yaml`'s that are not used anymore in clusterctl upgrade tests.
    4. Adjust cluster templates in `test/e2e/data/infrastructure-vsphere`:
       1. Create a new `v1.7` folder. It should be created based on the `main` folder and only contain the templates
-        we use in the clusterctl upgrade tests (as of today `remote-management`).
+        we use in the clusterctl upgrade tests (as of today `topology`).
       2. Remove old folders that are not used anymore in clusterctl upgrade tests.
       3. Copy over the workload folder from a previous release.
    5. Modify the test specs in `test/e2e/clusterctl_upgrade_test.go` (according to the versions we want to test described above).
diff --git a/test/e2e/clusterctl_upgrade_test.go b/test/e2e/clusterctl_upgrade_test.go
index 20b1ac50ba..e7b4d5f893 100644
--- a/test/e2e/clusterctl_upgrade_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/clusterctl_upgrade_test.go
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ var _ = Describe("When testing clusterctl upgrades using ClusterClass (CAPV 1.9=
 				BootstrapClusterProxy:             bootstrapClusterProxy,
 				ArtifactFolder:                    artifactFolder,
 				SkipCleanup:                       skipCleanup,
-				MgmtFlavor:                        testSpecificSettingsGetter().FlavorForMode("remote-management"),
+				MgmtFlavor:                        testSpecificSettingsGetter().FlavorForMode("topology"),
 				PostNamespaceCreated:              testSpecificSettingsGetter().PostNamespaceCreatedFunc,
 				PreInit:                           vsphereframework.LoadImagesFunc(ctx),
 				PreUpgrade:                        vsphereframework.LoadImagesFunc(ctx),
diff --git a/test/framework/image_preloading.go b/test/framework/image_preloading.go
index 957e3d1d18..dea54e3d73 100644
--- a/test/framework/image_preloading.go
+++ b/test/framework/image_preloading.go
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ func LoadImagesFunc(ctx context.Context) func(clusterProxy framework.ClusterProx
 	}
 
 	return func(clusterProxy framework.ClusterProxy) {
-		loader.loadImagesToCluster(ctx, clusterProxy)
+		loader.ImagesToCluster(ctx, clusterProxy)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -57,8 +57,8 @@ type imagePreloader struct {
 	sourceFile string
 }
 
-// loadImagesToCluster deploys a privileged daemonset and uses it to stream-load container images.
-func (i imagePreloader) loadImagesToCluster(ctx context.Context, clusterProxy framework.ClusterProxy) {
+// ImagesToCluster deploys a privileged daemonset and uses it to stream-load container images.
+func (loader imagePreloader) ImagesToCluster(ctx context.Context, clusterProxy framework.ClusterProxy) {
 	daemon, daemonMutateFn, daemonLabels := getPreloadDaemonset()
 	ctrlClient := clusterProxy.GetClient()
 
@@ -79,9 +79,10 @@ func (i imagePreloader) loadImagesToCluster(ctx context.Context, clusterProxy fr
 	)).To(Succeed())
 
 	errs := []error{}
-	for _, pod := range pods.Items {
-		Byf("Loading images to node %s via pod %s", &pod.Spec.NodeName, klog.KObj(&pod))
-		if err := i.loadImagesViaPod(ctx, clusterProxy, pod.Namespace, pod.Name, pod.Spec.Containers[0].Name); err != nil {
+	for j := range pods.Items {
+		pod := pods.Items[j]
+		Byf("Loading images to node %s via pod %s", pod.Spec.NodeName, klog.KObj(&pod))
+		if err := loader.imagesViaPod(ctx, clusterProxy, pod.Namespace, pod.Name, pod.Spec.Containers[0].Name); err != nil {
 			errs = append(errs, err)
 		}
 	}
@@ -89,7 +90,7 @@ func (i imagePreloader) loadImagesToCluster(ctx context.Context, clusterProxy fr
 	Expect(kerrors.NewAggregate(errs)).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
 }
 
-func (i imagePreloader) loadImagesViaPod(ctx context.Context, clusterProxy framework.ClusterProxy, namespace, podName, containerName string) error {
+func (i imagePreloader) imagesViaPod(ctx context.Context, clusterProxy framework.ClusterProxy, namespace, podName, containerName string) error {
 	// Open source tar file.
 	reader, writer := io.Pipe()
 	file, err := os.Open(i.sourceFile)