diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
index b1f07265019c6..8819c63080a3b 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
@@ -72,10 +72,9 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
             throw new GradleException("bwcVersion must not be null if numBwcNodes is > 0")
         }
         // this is our current version distribution configuration we use for all kinds of REST tests etc.
-        project.configurations {
-            elasticsearchDistro
-        }
-        configureDistributionDependency(project, config.distribution, project.configurations.elasticsearchDistro, VersionProperties.elasticsearch)
+        String distroConfigName = "${task.name}_elasticsearchDistro"
+        Configuration distro = project.configurations.create(distroConfigName)
+        configureDistributionDependency(project, config.distribution, distro, VersionProperties.elasticsearch)
         if (config.bwcVersion != null && config.numBwcNodes > 0) {
             // if we have a cluster that has a BWC cluster we also need to configure a dependency on the BWC version
             // this version uses the same distribution etc. and only differs in the version we depend on.
@@ -91,10 +90,9 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
             // we start N nodes and out of these N nodes there might be M bwc nodes.
             // for each of those nodes we might have a different configuratioon
             String elasticsearchVersion = VersionProperties.elasticsearch
-            Configuration configuration = project.configurations.elasticsearchDistro
             if (i < config.numBwcNodes) {
                 elasticsearchVersion = config.bwcVersion
-                configuration = project.configurations.elasticsearchBwcDistro
+                distro = project.configurations.elasticsearchBwcDistro
             }
             NodeInfo node = new NodeInfo(config, i, project, task, elasticsearchVersion, sharedDir)
             if (i == 0) {
@@ -105,7 +103,7 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
                 config.seedNodePortsFile = node.transportPortsFile;
             }
             nodes.add(node)
-            startTasks.add(configureNode(project, task, cleanup, node, configuration))
+            startTasks.add(configureNode(project, task, cleanup, node, distro))
         }
 
         Task wait = configureWaitTask("${task.name}#wait", project, nodes, startTasks)