diff --git a/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/jdbc/src/test/groovy/RemoteJDBCInstrumentationTest.groovy b/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/jdbc/src/test/groovy/RemoteJDBCInstrumentationTest.groovy
index da27c427158..966a91d68a6 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/jdbc/src/test/groovy/RemoteJDBCInstrumentationTest.groovy
+++ b/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/jdbc/src/test/groovy/RemoteJDBCInstrumentationTest.groovy
@@ -192,6 +192,10 @@ abstract class RemoteJDBCInstrumentationTest extends VersionedNamingTestBase {
     sqlserver = new MSSQLServerContainer(MSSQLServerContainer.IMAGE)
       .acceptLicense()
       .withPassword(jdbcPasswords.get(SQLSERVER))
+      // Bound startup and retry once to survive transient container crashes on CI.
+      .withStartupTimeoutSeconds(120)
+      .withConnectTimeoutSeconds(120)
+      .withStartupAttempts(2)
     sqlserver.start()
     PortUtils.waitForPortToOpen(sqlserver.getHost(), sqlserver.getMappedPort(MS_SQL_SERVER_PORT), 5, SECONDS)
     jdbcUrls.put(SQLSERVER, "${sqlserver.getJdbcUrl()};DatabaseName=${dbName.get(SQLSERVER)}")