diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
index ce61cb0a..eebb6bfe 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -126,7 +126,10 @@ jobs:
           tags: type=ref,event=tag
 
       - name: manifest
-        run: make release
+        run: |
+          BOOTSTRAP_IMG_TAG=$RELEASE_TAG
+          CONTROLPLANE_IMG_TAG=$RELEASE_TAG
+          make release
 
       - name: manifest
         run: make release-notes
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 67e36aef..3fd86b89 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -43,10 +43,12 @@ $(TOOLS_BIN_DIR):
 	mkdir -p $(TOOLS_BIN_DIR)
 
 # Image URL to use all building/pushing image targets
+BOOTSTRAP_IMG_TAG ?= v0.2.0
 BOOTSTRAP_IMG ?= ghcr.io/cluster-api-provider-k3s/cluster-api-k3s/bootstrap-controller:v0.2.0
 
 # Image URL to use all building/pushing image targets
-CONTROLPLANE_IMG ?= ghcr.io/cluster-api-provider-k3s/cluster-api-k3s/controlplane-controller:v0.2.0
+CONTROLPLANE_IMG_TAG ?= v0.2.0
+CONTROLPLANE_IMG ?= ghcr.io/cluster-api-provider-k3s/cluster-api-k3s/controlplane-controller:$(CONTROLPLANE_IMG_TAG)
 
 
 # Produce CRDs that work back to Kubernetes 1.11 (no version conversion)