diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/runtimeclass/testing/BUILD b/pkg/kubelet/runtimeclass/testing/BUILD
index f9609f323f3..b48519c73a7 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/runtimeclass/testing/BUILD
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/runtimeclass/testing/BUILD
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ go_library(
     deps = [
         "//pkg/kubelet/runtimeclass:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1:go_default_library",
-        "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/node-api/pkg/apis/node/v1alpha1:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/node-api/pkg/client/clientset/versioned:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/node-api/pkg/client/clientset/versioned/fake:go_default_library",
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/runtimeclass/testing/fake_manager.go b/pkg/kubelet/runtimeclass/testing/fake_manager.go
index a7b8d23c5e7..99b19ab8c07 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/runtimeclass/testing/fake_manager.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/runtimeclass/testing/fake_manager.go
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ package testing
 
 import (
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
-	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/runtimeclass"
 	nodev1alpha1 "k8s.io/node-api/pkg/apis/node/v1alpha1"
 	nodeapiclient "k8s.io/node-api/pkg/client/clientset/versioned"
@@ -68,20 +67,3 @@ func NewRuntimeClass(name, handler string) *nodev1alpha1.RuntimeClass {
 		},
 	}
 }
-
-// NewUnstructuredRuntimeClass is a helper to generate an unstructured RuntimeClass resource with
-// the given name & handler.
-func NewUnstructuredRuntimeClass(name, handler string) *unstructured.Unstructured {
-	return &unstructured.Unstructured{
-		Object: map[string]interface{}{
-			"apiVersion": "node.k8s.io/v1alpha1",
-			"kind":       "RuntimeClass",
-			"metadata": map[string]interface{}{
-				"name": name,
-			},
-			"spec": map[string]interface{}{
-				"runtimeHandler": handler,
-			},
-		},
-	}
-}
diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/BUILD b/test/e2e/framework/BUILD
index fae77f670a5..e5dcba85b73 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/BUILD
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/BUILD
@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@ go_library(
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/util/retry:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/csi-api/pkg/client/clientset/versioned:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/kube-aggregator/pkg/client/clientset_generated/clientset:go_default_library",
+        "//staging/src/k8s.io/node-api/pkg/client/clientset/versioned:go_default_library",
         "//test/e2e/framework/ginkgowrapper:go_default_library",
         "//test/e2e/framework/metrics:go_default_library",
         "//test/e2e/framework/testfiles:go_default_library",
diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/framework.go b/test/e2e/framework/framework.go
index 8bd4c931b5b..4acc0bf9855 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/framework.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/framework.go
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/client/clientset_generated/internalclientset"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/test/e2e/framework/metrics"
 	testutils "k8s.io/kubernetes/test/utils"
+	nodeapiclient "k8s.io/node-api/pkg/client/clientset/versioned"
 
 	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo"
 	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
@@ -78,6 +79,7 @@ type Framework struct {
 	KubemarkExternalClusterClientSet clientset.Interface
 	APIExtensionsClientSet           apiextensionsclient.Interface
 	CSIClientSet                     csi.Interface
+	NodeAPIClientSet                 nodeapiclient.Interface
 
 	InternalClientset *internalclientset.Clientset
 	AggregatorClient  *aggregatorclient.Clientset
@@ -197,6 +199,9 @@ func (f *Framework) BeforeEach() {
 		jsonConfig.ContentType = "application/json"
 		f.CSIClientSet, err = csi.NewForConfig(jsonConfig)
 		Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+		// node.k8s.io is also based on CRD
+		f.NodeAPIClientSet, err = nodeapiclient.NewForConfig(jsonConfig)
+		Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
 
 		// create scales getter, set GroupVersion and NegotiatedSerializer to default values
 		// as they are required when creating a REST client.
diff --git a/test/e2e/node/runtimeclass.go b/test/e2e/node/runtimeclass.go
index ba971ba4604..e5fe7f8b324 100644
--- a/test/e2e/node/runtimeclass.go
+++ b/test/e2e/node/runtimeclass.go
@@ -69,14 +69,15 @@ var _ = SIGDescribe("RuntimeClass [Feature:RuntimeClass]", func() {
 
 	It("should reject a Pod requesting a deleted RuntimeClass", func() {
 		rcName := createRuntimeClass(f, "delete-me", "")
+		rcClient := f.NodeAPIClientSet.NodeV1alpha1().RuntimeClasses()
 
 		By("Deleting RuntimeClass "+rcName, func() {
-			err := f.DynamicClient.Resource(runtimeClassGVR).Delete(rcName, nil)
+			err := rcClient.Delete(rcName, nil)
 			framework.ExpectNoError(err, "failed to delete RuntimeClass %s", rcName)
 
 			By("Waiting for the RuntimeClass to disappear")
 			framework.ExpectNoError(wait.PollImmediate(framework.Poll, time.Minute, func() (bool, error) {
-				_, err := f.DynamicClient.Resource(runtimeClassGVR).Get(rcName, metav1.GetOptions{})
+				_, err := rcClient.Get(rcName, metav1.GetOptions{})
 				if errors.IsNotFound(err) {
 					return true, nil // done
 				}
@@ -143,11 +144,11 @@ var _ = SIGDescribe("RuntimeClass [Feature:RuntimeClass]", func() {
 })
 
 // createRuntimeClass generates a RuntimeClass with the desired handler and a "namespaced" name,
-// synchronously creates it with the dynamic client, and returns the resulting name.
+// synchronously creates it, and returns the generated name.
 func createRuntimeClass(f *framework.Framework, name, handler string) string {
 	uniqueName := fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", f.Namespace.Name, name)
-	rc := runtimeclasstest.NewUnstructuredRuntimeClass(uniqueName, handler)
-	rc, err := f.DynamicClient.Resource(runtimeClassGVR).Create(rc, metav1.CreateOptions{})
+	rc := runtimeclasstest.NewRuntimeClass(uniqueName, handler)
+	rc, err := f.NodeAPIClientSet.NodeV1alpha1().RuntimeClasses().Create(rc)
 	framework.ExpectNoError(err, "failed to create RuntimeClass resource")
 	return rc.GetName()
 }