diff --git a/tests/e2e_harness/cli_harness/test_rate_limiter.py b/tests/e2e_harness/cli_harness/test_rate_limiter.py
index 8d1ce5f45cb..78ad3e92450 100644
--- a/tests/e2e_harness/cli_harness/test_rate_limiter.py
+++ b/tests/e2e_harness/cli_harness/test_rate_limiter.py
@@ -1,11 +1,22 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import multiprocessing
+from collections.abc import Mapping
 from dataclasses import dataclass
+from multiprocessing.synchronize import Barrier
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Final
+from types import MappingProxyType
+from typing import Final, NoReturn
 
 from cli_harness.rate_limiter import ProviderConfig, RateBucket, RateLimiter
 
+_RACERS: Final = 8
+_ATTEMPTS_PER_RACER: Final = 100
+_BURST: Final = 400
+_NO_REFILL: Final[Mapping[RateBucket, ProviderConfig]] = MappingProxyType(
+    {RateBucket.OPENAI: ProviderConfig(rate_per_sec=1e-9, burst=_BURST)}
+)
+
 
 @dataclass
 class _FakeTime:
@@ -27,3 +38,41 @@ def test_two_processes_on_one_host_share_a_single_budget_per_bucket(tmp_path: Pa
     assert first_process.acquire(RateBucket.OPENAI) == 0.0
     assert 0.5 <= second_process.acquire(RateBucket.OPENAI) < 0.51
     assert second_process.acquire(RateBucket.BEDROCK_MANTLE) == 0.0
+
+
+def test_processes_racing_for_one_bucket_never_get_more_than_its_burst(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    grants: Final = tmp_path / "grants"
+
+    _race(_RACERS, state_dir=tmp_path / "state", grants=grants)
+
+    assert len(grants.read_bytes()) == _BURST
+
+
+def _race(racers: int, *, state_dir: Path, grants: Path) -> None:
+    context: Final = multiprocessing.get_context("spawn")
+    start_line: Final = context.Barrier(racers)
+    processes: Final = tuple(
+        context.Process(target=_take_tokens_until_told_to_wait, args=(state_dir, grants, start_line))
+        for _ in range(racers)
+    )
+    for process in processes:
+        process.start()
+    for process in processes:
+        process.join()
+
+
+def _take_tokens_until_told_to_wait(state_dir: Path, grants: Path, start_line: Barrier) -> None:
+    limiter: Final = RateLimiter(_NO_REFILL, state_dir, _frozen_clock, _exit_instead_of_sleeping)
+    with grants.open("ab", buffering=0) as log:
+        _ = start_line.wait()
+        for _ in range(_ATTEMPTS_PER_RACER):
+            _ = limiter.acquire(RateBucket.OPENAI)
+            _ = log.write(b".")
+
+
+def _frozen_clock() -> float:
+    return 0.0
+
+
+def _exit_instead_of_sleeping(_seconds: float) -> NoReturn:
+    raise SystemExit(0)