diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 43363010..44574ece 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -14,8 +14,9 @@
 
 variables:
   GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY: recursive
-  VSIM: "questa-2023.4-zr vsim"
-  VSIM_BIN: "questa-2023.4-zr vsim"
+  QUESTA: "questa-2023.4-zr"
+  VSIM: "$QUESTA vsim"
+  VSIM_BIN: "$QUESTA vsim"
   RISCV: "/usr/pack/riscv-1.0-kgf/pulp-gcc-2.5.0"
   PULP_RISCV_GCC_TOOLCHAIN: "/usr/pack/riscv-1.0-kgf/pulp-gcc-2.5.0"
 
@@ -84,9 +85,8 @@ test_sequential_bare:
     - echo "Running sequential bare tests"
     - source sw/pulp-runtime/configs/pulpissimo.sh
     - export VSIM_PATH=$PWD/build/questasim
-    - cd sw/regression_tests/sequential_bare_tests && plptest --threads 32 --stdout
-    - echo "Generating junit test results"
-    - /usr/sepp/bin/python3.4 -m junit2htmlreport junit-reports/TEST-*.xml
+    - cd sw/regression_tests
+    - ../pulp-runtime/scripts/bwruntests.py --proc-verbose -v --report-junit -t 3600 --yaml -o simplified-runtime.xml sequential-bare-tests.yaml
   artifacts:
     name: "$CI_JOB_NAME-$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME-$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA"
     paths:
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ freertos_helloworld:
     - cd sw/pulp-freertos
     - source env/pulpissimo-cv32e40p.sh
     - cd tests/hello_world_pmsis
-    - make all run
+    - $QUESTA make all run
 
 test_dm:
   stage: test
@@ -340,7 +340,6 @@ spi_boot:
     - printf "#include <stdio.h>\nint main(){\n  printf(\"Hello World\\\n\");\n  return 0;\n}\n" > hello/hello.c
     - printf "PULP_APP = hello\nPULP_APP_FC_SRCS = hello.c\nPULP_APP_HOST_SRCS = hello.c\nPULP_CFLAGS = -O3 -g\n\ninclude \$(PULP_SDK_HOME)/install/rules/pulp_rt.mk\n" > hello/Makefile
   script:
-    - make scripts-bender-vsim-vips all
     - export VSIM_PATH=$PWD/build/questasim
     - source pulp-runtime/configs/pulpissimo_cv32.sh
     - make -C hello clean all run bootmode=spi PULP_RUNTIME_GCC_TOOLCHAIN=/usr/pack/riscv-1.0-kgf/pulp-gcc-2.5.0