diff --git a/base-common/duneci-standard-test b/base-common/duneci-standard-test
index fa15fc71a0d8e1a8192cc952b67b26352a1eb440..d1d5012b7010f5ebfb9b476e25ebcb7d11703722 100755
--- a/base-common/duneci-standard-test
+++ b/base-common/duneci-standard-test
@@ -91,4 +91,4 @@ if [[ "${DUNECI_TEST_INSTALL:-0}" != 0 ]] ; then
 fi
 ${DUNECONTROL} --current "${@}" make ${parallel_opts} "${build_test_targets[@]}"
 # note the extra quoting for select_test_args to protect it from dunecontrol evaling it
-${DUNECONTROL} --current "${@}" bexec ${DUNE_CTEST} ${parallel_opts} "${select_test_args[@]@Q}"
+${DUNECONTROL} --current "${@}" bexec ${DUNE_CTEST} ${parallel_opts} ${select_test_args[@]:+"${select_test_args[@]@Q}"}