diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-gitlab-ci.yml
index b3d092bda71..dbd9d7b95a0 100755
--- a/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava-gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
   variables:
     ARCH: armhf
     KERNEL_IMAGE_NAME: zImage
-    KERNEL_IMAGE_TYPE: "type:\ zimage"
+    KERNEL_IMAGE_TYPE: "zimage"
     BOOT_METHOD: u-boot
     HWCI_TEST_SCRIPT: "/install/deqp-runner.sh"
   extends:
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
   variables:
     ARCH: arm64
     KERNEL_IMAGE_NAME: Image
-    KERNEL_IMAGE_TYPE: "type:\ image"
+    KERNEL_IMAGE_TYPE: "image"
     BOOT_METHOD: u-boot
     HWCI_TEST_SCRIPT: "/install/deqp-runner.sh"
   extends:
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@
   variables:
     ARCH: amd64
     KERNEL_IMAGE_NAME: bzImage
-    KERNEL_IMAGE_TYPE: "type:\ zimage"
+    KERNEL_IMAGE_TYPE: "zimage"
     BOOT_METHOD: u-boot
     HWCI_TEST_SCRIPT: "/install/deqp-runner.sh"
   extends:
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava.yml.jinja2 b/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava.yml.jinja2
index 60be56b8bec..ec71a96e4e7 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava.yml.jinja2
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/lava/lava.yml.jinja2
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ actions:
     kernel:
       url: {{ base_system_url_prefix }}/{{ kernel_image_name }}
 {% if kernel_image_type %}
-      {{ kernel_image_type }}
+      type: {{ kernel_image_type }}
 {% endif %}
     nfsrootfs:
       url: {{ base_system_url_prefix }}/lava-rootfs.tgz