diff --git a/ansible/roles/metacluster/tasks/components.yml b/ansible/roles/metacluster/tasks/components.yml
index af5b803..11fe5af 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/metacluster/tasks/components.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/metacluster/tasks/components.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@
     state: directory
   loop:
     - /opt/metacluster/helm-charts
-    - /opt/metacluster/manifests
+    - /opt/metacluster/manifests/bootstrap-kubeadm/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.base }}
+    - /opt/metacluster/manifests/cluster-api/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.base }}
+    - /opt/metacluster/manifests/control-plane-kubeadm/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.base }}
+    - /opt/metacluster/manifests/infrastructure-vsphere/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.infrastructure-vsphere }}
     - /opt/metacluster/container-images
 
 - name: Add helm repositories
@@ -18,6 +21,7 @@
   ansible.builtin.command:
     cmd: helm fetch {{ item.value.helm.chart }} --untar --version {{ item.value.helm.version }}
     chdir: /opt/metacluster/helm-charts
+  when: item.value.helm is defined
   loop: "{{ lookup('ansible.builtin.dict', components) }}"
   loop_control:
     label: "{{ item.key }}"
@@ -39,31 +43,48 @@
 
 - block:
 
-    - name: Lookup ClusterAPI manifests
-      ansible.builtin.shell:
-        cmd: clusterctl config repositories | awk '/CoreProvider|kubeadm|vsphere/ {print $(NF-1)"download/"$NF}'
-      register: clusterapi_manifests
-
-    - name: Download manifests
+    - name: Download ClusterAPI manifests
       ansible.builtin.get_url:
-        url: "{{ item }}"
-        dest: "/opt/metacluster/manifests/{{ item | basename }}"
-      loop: "{{ clusterapi_manifests.stdout_lines }}"
+        url: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/{{ item.url }}
+        dest: /opt/metacluster/manifests/{{ item.dest }}
+      register: clusterapi_manifests
+      loop:
+        # This list is based on `clusterctl config repositories`
+        # Note: Each manifest also needs a metadata.yaml file stored in the respective folder
+        - url: cluster-api/releases/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.base }}/download/bootstrap-components.yaml
+          dest: bootstrap-kubeadm/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.base }}/bootstrap-components.yaml
+        - url: cluster-api/releases/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.base }}/download/core-components.yaml
+          dest: cluster-api/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.base }}/core-components.yaml
+        - url: cluster-api/releases/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.base }}/download/control-plane-components.yaml
+          dest: control-plane-kubeadm/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.base }}/control-plane-components.yaml
+        - url: cluster-api-provider-vsphere/releases/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.infrastructure-vsphere }}/download/infrastructure-components.yaml
+          dest: infrastructure-vsphere/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.infrastructure-vsphere }}/infrastructure-components.yaml
+        - url: cluster-api-provider-vsphere/releases/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.infrastructure-vsphere }}/download/metadata.yaml
+          dest: infrastructure-vsphere/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.infrastructure-vsphere }}/metadata.yaml
+        # This downloads the same metadata.yaml file to three separate folders
+        - url: cluster-api/releases/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.base }}/download/metadata.yaml
+          dest: bootstrap-kubeadm/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.base }}/metadata.yaml
+        - url: cluster-api/releases/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.base }}/download/metadata.yaml
+          dest: cluster-api/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.base }}/metadata.yaml
+        - url: cluster-api/releases/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.base }}/download/metadata.yaml
+          dest: control-plane-kubeadm/{{ components.cluster-api.manifest.version.base }}/metadata.yaml
       loop_control:
-        label: "{{ item | basename }}"
+        label: "{{ item.url | basename }}"
 
-    - name: Parse manifests
-      ansible.builtin.shell:
-        cmd: cat {{ item | basename }} | yq --no-doc eval '.. | .image? | select(.)' | awk '!/ /' | sort
-        chdir: /opt/metacluster/manifests
-      register: parsedmanifests
-      loop: "{{ clusterapi_manifests.stdout_lines | sort }}"
-      loop_control:
-        label: "{{ item | basename }}"
+    - debug:
+        var: clusterapi_manifests
+    # - name: Parse manifests
+    #   ansible.builtin.shell:
+    #     cmd: cat {{ item | basename }} | yq --no-doc eval '.. | .image? | select(.)' | awk '!/ /' | sort
+    #     chdir: /opt/metacluster/manifests
+    #   register: parsedmanifests
+    #   loop: "{{ clusterapi_manifests.stdout_lines | sort }}"
+    #   loop_control:
+    #     label: "{{ item | basename }}"
 
-    - name: Store container images
-      ansible.builtin.set_fact:
-        clusterapi_containerimages: "{{ parsedmanifests | json_query('results[*].stdout') }}"
+    # - name: Store container images
+    #   ansible.builtin.set_fact:
+    #     clusterapi_containerimages: "{{ parsedmanifests | json_query('results[*].stdout') }}"
 
 - name: Parse helm charts for container images
   ansible.builtin.shell:
diff --git a/ansible/vars/metacluster.yml b/ansible/vars/metacluster.yml
index d30300e..26e2676 100644
--- a/ansible/vars/metacluster.yml
+++ b/ansible/vars/metacluster.yml
@@ -76,6 +76,12 @@ components:
       # chart_values: !unsafe |
       #   installCRDs: true
 
+  cluster-api:
+    manifest:
+      version:
+        base: v1.2.4
+        infrastructure-vsphere: v1.3.5
+
   gitea:
     helm:
       version: v6.0.0 # (= Gitea v1.17.1)