diff --git a/test/e2e/govmomi_test.go b/test/e2e/govmomi_test.go
index 10e0e60ac3..2e4fdf5e00 100644
--- a/test/e2e/govmomi_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/govmomi_test.go
@@ -50,11 +50,28 @@ func init() {
 }
 
 func initVSphereSession() {
+	vsphereClient, restClient = createVsphereClient(vsphereServer, vsphereUsername, vspherePassword)
+
+	By("creating vSphere finder")
+	vsphereFinder = find.NewFinder(vsphereClient.Client)
+
+	By("configuring vSphere datacenter")
+	datacenter, err := vsphereFinder.DatacenterOrDefault(ctx, vsphereDatacenter)
+	Expect(err).ShouldNot(HaveOccurred())
+	vsphereFinder.SetDatacenter(datacenter)
+}
+
+func terminateVSphereSession() {
+	Expect(vsphereClient.Logout(ctx)).To(Succeed())
+}
+
+func createVsphereClient(vsphereServer, vsphereUsername, vspherePassword string) (*govmomi.Client, *rest.Client) {
 	By("parsing vSphere server URL")
 	serverURL, err := soap.ParseURL(vsphereServer)
 	Expect(err).ShouldNot(HaveOccurred())
 
 	var vimClient *vim25.Client
+	var vsphereClient *govmomi.Client
 
 	By("creating vSphere client", func() {
 		serverURL.User = url.UserPassword(vsphereUsername, vspherePassword)
@@ -74,21 +91,13 @@ func initVSphereSession() {
 		Expect(vsphereClient.Login(ctx, url.UserPassword(vsphereUsername, vspherePassword))).To(Succeed())
 	})
 
+	var restClient *rest.Client
+
 	By("creating vSphere Rest Client", func() {
 		restClient = rest.NewClient(vimClient)
 		restClient.Transport = keepalive.NewHandlerREST(restClient, 5*time.Minute, nil)
 		Expect(restClient.Login(ctx, url.UserPassword(vsphereUsername, vspherePassword))).To(Succeed())
 	})
 
-	By("creating vSphere finder")
-	vsphereFinder = find.NewFinder(vsphereClient.Client)
-
-	By("configuring vSphere datacenter")
-	datacenter, err := vsphereFinder.DatacenterOrDefault(ctx, vsphereDatacenter)
-	Expect(err).ShouldNot(HaveOccurred())
-	vsphereFinder.SetDatacenter(datacenter)
-}
-
-func terminateVSphereSession() {
-	Expect(vsphereClient.Logout(ctx)).To(Succeed())
+	return vsphereClient, restClient
 }
diff --git a/test/e2e/ownerrefs_finalizers_test.go b/test/e2e/ownerrefs_finalizers_test.go
index cf08549330..0b46feeb0b 100644
--- a/test/e2e/ownerrefs_finalizers_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/ownerrefs_finalizers_test.go
@@ -89,8 +89,14 @@ var _ = Describe("Ensure OwnerReferences and Finalizers are resilient [vcsim] [s
 						createVsphereIdentitySecret(ctx, bootstrapClusterProxy, username, password)
 
 						if testTarget == VCSimTestTarget {
+							// The global clients are not initialized when using vcsim.
+							vSphereClient, restClient := createVsphereClient(input.Variables["VSPHERE_SERVER"], username, password)
+							vsphereFinder := find.NewFinder(vSphereClient.Client)
+
 							// Create the necessary k8s-region and k8s-zone tags in VCSim for the failure domain.
 							createGovmomiFailureDomainTags(ctx, restClient, vsphereFinder, e2eConfig.GetVariable("VSPHERE_DATACENTER"), e2eConfig.GetVariable("VSPHERE_COMPUTE_CLUSTER"))
+
+							Expect(vsphereClient.Logout(ctx)).To(Succeed())
 						}
 					}
 				},