diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-docker-vault.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-docker-vault.yml
index 2ff23497eec2c2d794bfd01f31447cdb4bf4b812..909376b43b973dd13ae588076ed7459da07ebe2d 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-docker-vault.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-docker-vault.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ variables:
 
 .docker-base:
   services:
-    - name: "$CI_REGISTRY/to-be-continuous/tools/tracking:master"
+    - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
       command: ["--service", "docker", "2.4.0"]
     - name: "$CI_REGISTRY/to-be-continuous/tools/vault-secrets-provider:master"
       alias: "vault-secrets-provider"
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-docker.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-docker.yml
index fa8c2fcd5a08541d031a74277b50d93e0499ef4e..e7115ea0e3a2a6ad92b984ee682000804e5c9100 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-docker.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-docker.yml
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@
 # Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA.
 # =========================================================================================
 variables:
+  # variabilized tracking image
+  TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE: "$CI_REGISTRY/to-be-continuous/tools/tracking:master"
+
   DOCKER_LINT_IMAGE: "projectatomic/dockerfile-lint:latest"
   DOCKER_HADOLINT_IMAGE: "hadolint/hadolint:latest-alpine"
   DOCKER_IMAGE: "docker:latest"
@@ -363,7 +366,7 @@ stages:
 
 .docker-base:
   services:
-    - name: "$CI_REGISTRY/to-be-continuous/tools/tracking:master"
+    - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
       command: ["--service", "docker", "2.4.0"]
   before_script:
     - *docker-scripts
@@ -392,7 +395,7 @@ stages:
     _CUSTOM_CA_CERTS: "${CUSTOM_CA_CERTS}"
     _TRACE: "${TRACE}"
   services:
-    - name: "$CI_REGISTRY/to-be-continuous/tools/tracking:master"
+    - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
       command: ["--service", "docker", "2.4.0"]
     - name: $DOCKER_DIND_IMAGE
       alias: docker