diff --git a/apps/kubevirt-vms/ci1.yaml b/apps/kubevirt-vms/ci1.yaml
index 86bd856..ddb010a 100644
--- a/apps/kubevirt-vms/ci1.yaml
+++ b/apps/kubevirt-vms/ci1.yaml
@@ -367,7 +367,14 @@ spec:
             claimName: windows-server-2025-iso
         - name: virtio-drivers
           containerDisk:
-            image: quay.io/kubevirt/virtio-container-disk
+            # Pinned to v1.8.2 (latest stable as of 2026-05-08).
+            # The :latest tag uses Docker manifest v1 schema which containerd
+            # 2.1 (RKE2 v1.34.5) refuses to pull with:
+            #   "media type application/vnd.docker.distribution.manifest.v1+prettyjws
+            #    is no longer supported since containerd v2.1"
+            # v1.8.2 is rebuilt with manifest v2/OCI and works on containerd 2.1.
+            # Bump available: https://quay.io/repository/kubevirt/virtio-container-disk?tab=tags
+            image: quay.io/kubevirt/virtio-container-disk:v1.8.2
         - name: sysprep
           sysprep:
             configMap: