diff --git a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/main.yml b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/main.yml
index 1605d32e9..06c6f7b20 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/bifrost-create-vm-nodes/defaults/main.yml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ test_vm_num_nodes: 1
 test_vm_domain_type: "qemu"
 test_vm_arch: "x86_64"
 test_vm_cpu: "host-model"
-test_vm_nic: "virtio"
+test_vm_nic: "e1000"
 test_vm_groups: {}
 test_vm_default_groups: "{{ lookup('env', 'DEFAULT_HOST_GROUPS').split() | default(['baremetal'], true) }}"
 test_vm_disk_gib: "{{ lookup('env', 'VM_DISK') | default(10, true) }}"
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/change-default-vnic-type-a4ba179ea8f9792d.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/change-default-vnic-type-a4ba179ea8f9792d.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aa3475504
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/change-default-vnic-type-a4ba179ea8f9792d.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+---
+other:
+  - |
+    The default libvirt network interface card type has been changed from
+    ``virtio`` to ``e1000`` in order to support testing on Bionic. Users should
+    not experience any issues as a result of this, however the
+    ``bifrost-create-vm-nodes`` setting ``test_vm_nic`` can be used to explicitly
+    choose ``virtio`` network interface cards.