diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/unicast/UnicastZenPing.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/unicast/UnicastZenPing.java
index 4e80669ddfe..3b894515871 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/unicast/UnicastZenPing.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/unicast/UnicastZenPing.java
@@ -394,7 +394,8 @@ public class UnicastZenPing extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<ZenPing> implemen
                                 // try and merge the best ping response for it, i.e. if the new one
                                 // doesn't have the master node set, and the existing one does, then
                                 // the existing one is better, so we keep it
-                                if (pingResponse.master() != null) {
+                                // if both have a master or both have none, we prefer the latest ping
+                                if (existingResponse.master() == null || pingResponse.master() != null) {
                                     responses.put(pingResponse.node(), pingResponse);
                                 }
                             }
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesLifecycleListenerTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesLifecycleListenerTests.java
index f3b5eb6f04e..89b1a6bef70 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesLifecycleListenerTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesLifecycleListenerTests.java
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ package org.elasticsearch.indices;
 
 import com.google.common.base.Predicate;
 import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
-import org.apache.lucene.util.LuceneTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.IndexShardState;
@@ -45,7 +44,6 @@ import static org.elasticsearch.test.ElasticsearchIntegrationTest.Scope;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertAcked;
 
 @ClusterScope(scope = Scope.TEST, numDataNodes = 0)
-@LuceneTestCase.AwaitsFix(bugUrl = "fails due to old ping responses confusing master elections, bleskes investigating")
 public class IndicesLifecycleListenerTests extends ElasticsearchIntegrationTest {
 
     @Test