diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index c51f8c54d0f8b5aa71b92a3af8a10f44323937d5..d3eb0663641f691830768d6a5d5d6e6a0f95c8b9 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -750,8 +750,12 @@ stages:
     - fi
     - make clean
     - make -j $make_args
-    - testcase_timeout=$TESTCASE_TIMEOUT_LTV_SANITIZERS
-    - python3 -m pytest $TEST_SUITE -v --tb=no --update_ref 1 --html=report.html --self-contained-html --junit-xml=report-junit.xml --testcase_timeout $testcase_timeout --ref_encoder_path $DUT_ENCODER_PATH --ref_decoder_path $DUT_DECODER_PATH
+    - testcase_timeout_arg="--testcase_timeout $TESTCASE_TIMEOUT_LTV_SANITIZERS"
+    # disable per-testcase timeout for msan to evaluate what is going on that it takes so long
+    - if [[ $CLANG_NUM = 1 ]]; then
+    -   testcase_timeout_arg=""
+    - fi
+    - python3 -m pytest $TEST_SUITE -v --tb=no --update_ref 1 --html=report.html --self-contained-html --junit-xml=report-junit.xml $testcase_timeout_arg --ref_encoder_path $DUT_ENCODER_PATH --ref_decoder_path $DUT_DECODER_PATH
   artifacts:
     name: "$CI_JOB_NAME--sha-$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA--results"
     when: always