diff --git a/oak-benchmarks/README.md b/oak-benchmarks/README.md
index 167b8c0247..fb18dbb6a8 100644
--- a/oak-benchmarks/README.md
+++ b/oak-benchmarks/README.md
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ Some system properties are also used to control the benchmarks. For example:
     -Dwarmup=5                - warmup time (in seconds)
     -Druntime=60              - how long a single benchmark should run (in seconds)
     -Dprofile=true            - to collect and print profiling data
+    -Doak.benchmark.delay     - (since Oak 1.40.0) time delay before single benchmark starts execution (in seconds)
 
 The test case names like `ReadPropertyTest`, `SmallFileReadTest` and
 `SmallFileWriteTest` indicate the specific test case being run. You can
diff --git a/oak-benchmarks/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/benchmark/AbstractTest.java b/oak-benchmarks/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/benchmark/AbstractTest.java
index 0da405a523..d530458000 100644
--- a/oak-benchmarks/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/benchmark/AbstractTest.java
+++ b/oak-benchmarks/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/benchmark/AbstractTest.java
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractTest<T> extends Benchmark implements CSVResultGene
 
     private static final long RUNTIME = TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(Long.getLong("runtime", 60));
 
+    private static final long TEST_DELAY = TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMillis(Long.getLong("oak.benchmark.delay", 0));
+
     private static final boolean SKIP_WARMPUP = Boolean.getBoolean("skipWarmup");
     
     private static final boolean PROFILE = Boolean.getBoolean("profile");
@@ -200,6 +202,9 @@ public abstract class AbstractTest<T> extends Benchmark implements CSVResultGene
         for (RepositoryFixture fixture : fixtures) {
             currentFixture = fixture;
             try {
+                if (TEST_DELAY > 0) {
+                    Thread.sleep(TEST_DELAY);
+                }
                 Repository[] cluster = createRepository(fixture);
                 try {
                     runTest(fixture, cluster[0], concurrencyLevels);