diff --git a/e2e/e2e_common.go b/e2e/e2e_common.go
index 4482c876c..515b7238a 100644
--- a/e2e/e2e_common.go
+++ b/e2e/e2e_common.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package e2e
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"reflect"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
@@ -66,6 +67,11 @@ var (
 	// ReportAfterEach dumps detailed state for each tracked resource then clears
 	// the list.
 	resourcesUnderTest []client.Object
+
+	// specDiagnostics stores per-spec diagnostic output keyed by spec text.
+	// ReportAfterEach populates it on failure; ReportAfterSuite reads it to
+	// append diagnostics to the JUnit failure message.
+	specDiagnostics = map[string]string{}
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -113,16 +119,16 @@ func trackResource(obj client.Object) {
 	resourcesUnderTest = append(resourcesUnderTest, obj)
 }
 
-// dumpTrackedResources writes detailed diagnostics for each tracked resource
-// to GinkgoWriter. For each resource it fetches current state, marshals it as
+// collectTrackedResourceDiagnostics builds a diagnostics string for each
+// tracked resource. For each resource it fetches current state, marshals it as
 // YAML, and lists events specific to that object. It also dumps all
 // AWSMachineTemplates (on AWS) and all events in both namespaces.
 // Best-effort: panics are recovered and individual errors are logged without
 // aborting the dump.
-func dumpTrackedResources() {
+func collectTrackedResourceDiagnostics() string {
 	defer func() {
 		if r := recover(); r != nil {
-			GinkgoWriter.Printf("WARNING: dumpTrackedResources panicked: %v\n", r)
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "WARNING: collectTrackedResourceDiagnostics panicked: %v\n", r)
 		}
 	}()
 
@@ -141,7 +147,7 @@ func dumpTrackedResources() {
 
 	buf.WriteString("\n=== End Test Failure Diagnostics ===\n")
 
-	GinkgoWriter.Print(buf.String())
+	return buf.String()
 }
 
 func dumpSingleResource(buf *strings.Builder, obj client.Object) {
diff --git a/e2e/e2e_test.go b/e2e/e2e_test.go
index 491176931..4afecd7d4 100644
--- a/e2e/e2e_test.go
+++ b/e2e/e2e_test.go
@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@ var _ = BeforeSuite(func() {
 
 var _ = ReportAfterEach(func(report SpecReport) {
 	if report.Failed() {
-		dumpTrackedResources()
+		diag := collectTrackedResourceDiagnostics()
+		specDiagnostics[report.LeafNodeLocation.String()] = diag
 	}
 
 	resourcesUnderTest = nil
@@ -58,20 +59,15 @@ var _ = ReportAfterSuite("junit with diagnostics", func(report Report) {
 		return
 	}
 
-	// Append GinkgoWriter output (which contains our tracked resource dump)
-	// to the failure description so it appears in the <failure> element of
-	// the JUnit XML, which is what Spyglass renders by default.
 	for i := range report.SpecReports {
 		sr := &report.SpecReports[i]
 		if !sr.Failed() {
 			continue
 		}
 
-		if sr.CapturedGinkgoWriterOutput == "" {
-			continue
+		if diag, ok := specDiagnostics[sr.LeafNodeLocation.String()]; ok {
+			sr.Failure.Message += "\n\n" + diag
 		}
-
-		sr.Failure.Message += "\n\n" + sr.CapturedGinkgoWriterOutput
 	}
 
 	dst := filepath.Join(artifactDir, "junit_cluster_capi_operator.xml")