diff --git a/gitlab-ci-git-buildpackage b/gitlab-ci-git-buildpackage
index 6e0d09c..cea9027 100755
--- a/gitlab-ci-git-buildpackage
+++ b/gitlab-ci-git-buildpackage
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ apt-get -qy install --no-install-recommends \
         build-essential dpkg-dev fakeroot git-buildpackage pristine-tar $BUILD_DEPENDS
 apt-get -qy autoremove --purge
 dpkg-checkbuilddeps
+echo "ensure pristine-tar branch exists"
+git fetch origin
+git branch --track pristine-tar origin/pristine-tar
 echo "make master branch current for gbp"
 git checkout -B "$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME" "$CI_COMMIT_SHA"
 gbp buildpackage -us -uc