diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/echo.go b/test/e2e/framework/echo.go
index 98e67b187..2a825f031 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/echo.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/echo.go
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ func (f *Framework) NewEchoDeploymentWithReplicas(replicas int32) error {
 					},
 				},
 				Spec: corev1.PodSpec{
-					TerminationGracePeriodSeconds: NewInt64(1),
+					TerminationGracePeriodSeconds: NewInt64(0),
 					Containers: []corev1.Container{
 						{
 							Name:  "http-svc",
diff --git a/test/e2e/up.sh b/test/e2e/up.sh
index e98b155d6..6479cf73c 100755
--- a/test/e2e/up.sh
+++ b/test/e2e/up.sh
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ curl -Lo minikube https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/releases/latest/miniku
     sudo mv minikube /usr/local/bin/
 
 echo "starting minikube..."
-sudo minikube start --vm-driver=none --kubernetes-version=$KUBERNETES_VERSION
+# Using sync-frequency=5s helps to speed up the tests (during the cleanup of resources inside a namespace)
+sudo minikube start --vm-driver=none --kubernetes-version=$KUBERNETES_VERSION --extra-config=kubelet.sync-frequency=5s
 
 minikube update-context