diff --git a/crates/buzz-relay/src/handlers/group_state_postgres_tests.rs b/crates/buzz-relay/src/handlers/group_state_postgres_tests.rs
index 89c38355ea..7d847e1a8f 100644
--- a/crates/buzz-relay/src/handlers/group_state_postgres_tests.rs
+++ b/crates/buzz-relay/src/handlers/group_state_postgres_tests.rs
@@ -12,8 +12,14 @@ use crate::handlers::ingest::{ingest_event, HttpAuthMethod, IngestAuth};
 use crate::state::AppState;
 use buzz_auth::Scope;
 
+/// Test state on the shared test database. The pool keeps sqlx's default
+/// acquire timeout: `test_state_with_database_url` waits only 100 ms so
+/// closed-port tests fail fast, and a first connect to a busy CI database can
+/// take longer than that (`PoolTimedOut`).
 pub(crate) async fn state() -> Arc<AppState> {
-    crate::state::tests::test_state_with_database_url(&crate::test_support::database_url()).await
+    let pool =
+        sqlx::PgPool::connect_lazy(&crate::test_support::database_url()).expect("lazy pg pool");
+    crate::state::tests::test_state_with_database_pool(pool).await
 }
 
 pub(crate) async fn community(state: &AppState, label: &str) -> TenantContext {