diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index eba6c2bf..0adaa0c0 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -421,10 +421,10 @@ cargo-audit:
     - find /cache/cargo-target/"${CACHE_KEY}" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d ! -name "test-release" -exec rm -rf {} + 2>/dev/null || true
     - echo "CARGO_TARGET_DIR=$CARGO_TARGET_DIR (disk $(df -h /cache/cargo-target | tail -1 | awk '{print $3 "/" $2 " used, " $4 " free"}'))"
   cache: []
-  # 300m: cold debug build on VPS can still take 2-3h (first run after cache change).
-  # Warm cache completes in ~45m. Debug mode compiles 2-3x faster than --release
-  # while -Cdebug-assertions=y (set in RUSTFLAGS) keeps the same assertion coverage.
-  timeout: 300m
+  # 420m: cold debug build + full partition test run observed at 300m+. Warm cache
+  # (subsequent runs) completes in ~45-90m. The extra headroom avoids false timeout
+  # failures on the first pipeline after a Cargo.lock change (new CACHE_KEY).
+  timeout: 420m
   retry:
     max: 1
     when: