diff --git a/Lib/test/test__xxsubinterpreters.py b/Lib/test/test__xxsubinterpreters.py
index a76e4d0ade5b8a..35d7355680e549 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test__xxsubinterpreters.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test__xxsubinterpreters.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 import threading
 import unittest
 
-import _testinternalcapi
 from test import support
 from test.support import import_helper
 from test.support import os_helper
@@ -15,6 +14,7 @@
 
 
 interpreters = import_helper.import_module('_xxsubinterpreters')
+_testinternalcapi = import_helper.import_module('_testinternalcapi')
 from _xxsubinterpreters import InterpreterNotFoundError