diff --git a/Lib/test/test_free_threading/test_races.py b/Lib/test/test_free_threading/test_races.py
index 23b48c76195408..f08de7496eb526 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_free_threading/test_races.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_free_threading/test_races.py
@@ -272,6 +272,8 @@ def mutate():
         do_race(set_value, mutate)
 
     def test_racing_recursion_limit(self):
+        self.addCleanup(sys.setrecursionlimit, sys.getrecursionlimit())
+
         def something_recursive():
             def count(n):
                 if n > 0:
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tests/2026-10-13-13-34-00.gh-issue-159293.Lr8q2N.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tests/2026-10-13-13-34-00.gh-issue-159293.Lr8q2N.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..2a122343a3fe2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tests/2026-10-13-13-34-00.gh-issue-159293.Lr8q2N.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Restore the recursion limit after the free-threading recursion-limit race test
+to avoid failures in subsequent tests run in the same process.