diff --git a/conformance/tests/basic/inferencepool_invalid_epp_service.go b/conformance/tests/basic/inferencepool_invalid_epp_service.go
index 73e6dc0c5..7e3bfaedf 100644
--- a/conformance/tests/basic/inferencepool_invalid_epp_service.go
+++ b/conformance/tests/basic/inferencepool_invalid_epp_service.go
@@ -17,18 +17,18 @@ limitations under the License.
 package basic
 
 import (
-	"net/http"
 	"testing"
 
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types"
+	inferenceapi "sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api-inference-extension/api/v1alpha2"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api/conformance/utils/kubernetes"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api/conformance/utils/suite"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api/pkg/features"
 
 	"sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api-inference-extension/conformance/tests"
-	gatewayv1 "sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api/apis/v1"
-	conformancehttp "sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api/conformance/utils/http"
+	k8sutils "sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api-inference-extension/conformance/utils/kubernetes"
+	trafficutils "sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api-inference-extension/conformance/utils/traffic"
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -49,30 +49,27 @@ var InferencePoolInvalidEPPService = suite.ConformanceTest{
 			routePath      = "/invalid-epp-test"
 			infraNamespace = "gateway-conformance-infra"
 			appNamespace   = "gateway-conformance-app-backend"
+			poolName       = "pool-with-invalid-epp"
 		)
 
 		routeNN := types.NamespacedName{Name: "httproute-for-invalid-epp-pool", Namespace: appNamespace}
 		gwNN := types.NamespacedName{Name: "conformance-primary-gateway", Namespace: infraNamespace}
+		poolNN := types.NamespacedName{Name: poolName, Namespace: appNamespace}
 
 		gwAddr := kubernetes.GatewayAndHTTPRoutesMustBeAccepted(t, s.Client, s.TimeoutConfig, s.ControllerName, kubernetes.NewGatewayRef(gwNN), routeNN)
-
-		t.Run("HTTPRoute has a ResolvedRefs Condition with status False and Reason BackendNotFound", func(t *testing.T) {
-			resolvedRefsCond := metav1.Condition{
-				Type:   string(gatewayv1.RouteConditionResolvedRefs),
+		t.Run("InferecePool has a ResolvedRefs Condition with status False", func(t *testing.T) {
+			acceptedCondition := metav1.Condition{
+				Type:   string(inferenceapi.InferencePoolConditionResolvedRefs), // Standard condition type
 				Status: metav1.ConditionFalse,
-				Reason: string(gatewayv1.RouteReasonBackendNotFound),
+				Reason: "", // "" means we don't strictly check the Reason for this basic test.
 			}
-			kubernetes.HTTPRouteMustHaveCondition(t, s.Client, s.TimeoutConfig, routeNN, gwNN, resolvedRefsCond)
+			k8sutils.InferencePoolMustHaveCondition(t, s.Client, poolNN, acceptedCondition)
 		})
 
 		t.Run("Request to a route with an invalid backend reference receives a 500 response", func(t *testing.T) {
-			conformancehttp.MakeRequestAndExpectEventuallyConsistentResponse(t, s.RoundTripper, s.TimeoutConfig, gwAddr, conformancehttp.ExpectedResponse{
-				Request: conformancehttp.Request{
-					Path: routePath,
-				},
-				Response: conformancehttp.Response{
-					StatusCode: http.StatusInternalServerError,
-				},
+			trafficutils.MakeRequestAndExpectEventuallyConsistentResponse(t, s.RoundTripper, s.TimeoutConfig, gwAddr, trafficutils.Request{
+				Path:               routePath,
+				ExpectedStatusCode: 5, // Expecting response status code 5XX.
 			})
 		})
 	},
diff --git a/conformance/tests/basic/inferencepool_invalid_epp_service.yaml b/conformance/tests/basic/inferencepool_invalid_epp_service.yaml
index 3a190369d..7d9295fe2 100644
--- a/conformance/tests/basic/inferencepool_invalid_epp_service.yaml
+++ b/conformance/tests/basic/inferencepool_invalid_epp_service.yaml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ metadata:
   namespace: gateway-conformance-app-backend
 spec:
   selector:
-    app: "inference-model-1"
+    app: primary-inference-model-server
   targetPortNumber: 3000
   extensionRef:
     name: non-existent-epp-svc
diff --git a/conformance/utils/config/timing.go b/conformance/utils/config/timing.go
index 861eb0f90..00aefdaa5 100644
--- a/conformance/utils/config/timing.go
+++ b/conformance/utils/config/timing.go
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ type InferenceExtensionTimeoutConfig struct {
 func DefaultInferenceExtensionTimeoutConfig() InferenceExtensionTimeoutConfig {
 	config := gatewayconfig.DefaultTimeoutConfig()
 	config.HTTPRouteMustHaveCondition = 300 * time.Second
+	config.RouteMustHaveParents = 200 * time.Second
 	config.MaxTimeToConsistency = 200 * time.Second
 	config.DefaultTestTimeout = 600 * time.Second
 	return InferenceExtensionTimeoutConfig{
diff --git a/conformance/utils/traffic/traffic.go b/conformance/utils/traffic/traffic.go
index b65863988..f53cc3236 100644
--- a/conformance/utils/traffic/traffic.go
+++ b/conformance/utils/traffic/traffic.go
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ func waitForConvergeToExpected(
 			return false
 		}
 
-		if err := gwhttp.CompareRequest(t, &request.Request, cReq, cRes, expectedResponse); err != nil {
+		if err := CompareRequestWithWildcardStatus(t, &request.Request, cReq, cRes, expectedResponse); err != nil {
 			tlog.Logf(t, "Response expectation failed for request: %+v  not ready yet: %v (after %v)", request.Request, err, elapsed)
 			return false
 		}
@@ -169,6 +169,26 @@ func waitForConvergeToExpected(
 	tlog.Logf(t, "Request passed")
 }
 
+// CompareRequestWithWildcardStatus compares requests with wildcard status code support.
+// It treats a single-digit expected code (e.g., 4) as a class wildcard (4xx),
+// while standard 3-digit codes are matched exactly.
+func CompareRequestWithWildcardStatus(t *testing.T, req *roundtripper.Request, cReq *roundtripper.CapturedRequest, cRes *roundtripper.CapturedResponse, expected gwhttp.ExpectedResponse) error {
+	if expected.Response.StatusCode < 1 || expected.Response.StatusCode >= 100 {
+		return gwhttp.CompareRequest(t, req, cReq, cRes, expected)
+	}
+
+	expectedClass := expected.Response.StatusCode
+	actualClass := cRes.StatusCode / 100
+	if expectedClass != actualClass {
+		return fmt.Errorf("expected status code class %dxx, but got %d", expectedClass, cRes.StatusCode)
+	}
+
+	// StatusCode Class matches; update status code on a copy to allow the standard comparator to pass.
+	modifiedExpected := expected
+	modifiedExpected.Response.StatusCode = cRes.StatusCode
+	return gwhttp.CompareRequest(t, req, cReq, cRes, modifiedExpected)
+}
+
 // TODO: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/gateway-api-inference-extension/issues/1031
 // remove this when sigs.k8s.io/gateway-api/conformance/utils/roundtripper is able to send request with body.
 // RequestWithBody extends roundtripper.Request to include a request body.