diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index 030f2840..a64e9469 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ jobs:
           - ./tests/bin/ci.sh -i 'test7(b.*|c.*|d.*|e.*|g.*|h.*)' 
           - ./tests/bin/ci.sh -i 'test7f.*'
           - ./tests/bin/ci.sh -i 'test8.*'
-          - /tmp/lunchpail bat demos/data-prep-kit --concurrency 1 --auto-clean --target=$LUNCHPAIL_TARGET # bat=Build and Test
+          - /tmp/lunchpail bat demos/data-prep-kit --concurrency 4 --target=$LUNCHPAIL_TARGET # bat=Build and Test
           - ./tests/bin/go.sh
           - ./tests/bin/pipelines.sh
         os: [ubuntu-latest]
diff --git a/pkg/runtime/needs/install_linux.go b/pkg/runtime/needs/install_linux.go
index fbfb3646..e03daccc 100644
--- a/pkg/runtime/needs/install_linux.go
+++ b/pkg/runtime/needs/install_linux.go
@@ -63,7 +63,8 @@ func installPython(ctx context.Context, version string, verbose bool) (string, e
 			sudo = ""
 		}
 		if _, err := exec.LookPath("apt"); err == nil {
-			cmdline = fmt.Sprintf("%s add-apt-repository -y ppa:deadsnakes/ppa && %s apt update && %s apt install -y python%s python%s-venv python%s-distutils && curl -sS https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py | python%s && which python%s", sudo, sudo, sudo, version, version, version, version, version)
+			// skipping: %s apt -o DPkg::Lock::Timeout=180 update && due to locking issues
+			cmdline = fmt.Sprintf("%s add-apt-repository -y ppa:deadsnakes/ppa && %s apt -o DPkg::Lock::Timeout=180 install -y python%s python%s-venv python%s-distutils && curl -sS https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py | python%s && which python%s", sudo, sudo, sudo, version, version, version, version, version)
 		}
 
 		if cmdline != "" {