diff --git a/charts/chart_versions.yaml b/charts/chart_versions.yaml
index 24d7ebb2ca..b6de23e157 100644
--- a/charts/chart_versions.yaml
+++ b/charts/chart_versions.yaml
@@ -53,3 +53,6 @@ charts:
   - version: 1.9.001
     filename: /charts/rke2-snapshot-validation-webhook.yaml
     bootstrap: false
+  - version: 0.1.000
+    filename: /charts/rke2-runtimeclasses.yaml
+    bootstrap: false
diff --git a/pkg/rke2/rc.go b/pkg/rke2/rc.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4266d75744
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/rke2/rc.go
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+package rke2
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"sync"
+
+	"github.com/k3s-io/k3s/pkg/cli/cmds"
+	"github.com/k3s-io/k3s/pkg/util"
+	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
+	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
+)
+
+const (
+	runtimeClassesChart = "rke2-runtimeclasses"
+
+	// Values from upstream, see reference at -> https://github.com/helm/helm/blob/v3.16.3/pkg/action/validate.go#L34-L37
+	appManagedByLabel              = "app.kubernetes.io/managed-by"
+	appManagedByHelm               = "Helm"
+	helmReleaseNameAnnotation      = "meta.helm.sh/release-name"
+	helmReleaseNamespaceAnnotation = "meta.helm.sh/release-namespace"
+)
+
+var runtimes = map[string]bool{
+	"nvidia":              true,
+	"nvidia-experimental": true,
+	"crun":                true,
+}
+
+func setRuntimes() cmds.StartupHook {
+	return func(ctx context.Context, wg *sync.WaitGroup, args cmds.StartupHookArgs) error {
+		go func() {
+			defer wg.Done()
+			<-args.APIServerReady
+			logrus.Info("Setting runtimes")
+
+			client, err := util.GetClientSet(args.KubeConfigSupervisor)
+			if err != nil {
+				logrus.Fatalf("runtimes: new k8s client: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			rcClient := client.NodeV1().RuntimeClasses()
+
+			classes, err := rcClient.List(context.Background(), metav1.ListOptions{})
+			if err != nil {
+				logrus.Fatalf("runtimes: failed to get runtime classes")
+			}
+
+			for _, c := range classes.Items {
+
+				// verify if the runtime class is the runtime class supported by rke2
+				if _, ok := runtimes[c.Name]; !ok {
+					continue
+				}
+
+				if c.Labels == nil {
+					c.Labels = map[string]string{}
+				}
+
+				if managedBy, ok := c.Labels[appManagedByLabel]; !ok || managedBy != appManagedByHelm {
+					c.Labels[appManagedByLabel] = appManagedByHelm
+				}
+
+				if c.Annotations == nil {
+					c.Annotations = map[string]string{}
+				}
+
+				if releaseName, ok := c.Annotations[helmReleaseNameAnnotation]; !ok || releaseName != runtimeClassesChart {
+					c.Annotations[helmReleaseNameAnnotation] = runtimeClassesChart
+				}
+
+				if namespace, ok := c.Annotations[helmReleaseNamespaceAnnotation]; !ok || namespace != metav1.NamespaceSystem {
+					c.Annotations[helmReleaseNamespaceAnnotation] = metav1.NamespaceSystem
+				}
+
+				_, err = rcClient.Update(context.Background(), &c, metav1.UpdateOptions{})
+				if err != nil {
+					logrus.Fatalf("runtimes: failed to update runtime classes")
+				}
+
+			}
+		}()
+
+		return nil
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/rke2/rke2.go b/pkg/rke2/rke2.go
index 1d0dacce46..8695044aae 100644
--- a/pkg/rke2/rke2.go
+++ b/pkg/rke2/rke2.go
@@ -138,6 +138,7 @@ func Server(clx *cli.Context, cfg Config) error {
 		restrictServiceAccounts(cisMode, defaultNamespaces),
 		setKubeProxyDisabled(),
 		cleanupStaticPodsOnSelfDelete(dataDir),
+		setRuntimes(),
 	)
 
 	var leaderControllers rawServer.CustomControllers