diff --git a/api/pkg/imagebuilder/imagebuilder.go b/api/pkg/imagebuilder/imagebuilder.go
index e1fac375f..d180ccc31 100644
--- a/api/pkg/imagebuilder/imagebuilder.go
+++ b/api/pkg/imagebuilder/imagebuilder.go
@@ -142,10 +142,6 @@ func (c *imageBuilder) validatePythonVersion(version *models.Version) error {
 
 // GetMainAppPath Returns the path to run the main.py of batch predictor, as configured via env var
 func (c *imageBuilder) GetMainAppPath(version *models.Version) (string, error) {
-	if err := c.validatePythonVersion(version); err != nil {
-		return "", err
-	}
-
 	baseImageTag := c.config.BaseImage
 	if baseImageTag.MainAppPath == "" {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("mainAppPath is not set for tag %s", version.PythonVersion)
@@ -202,6 +198,10 @@ func (c *imageBuilder) BuildImage(ctx context.Context, project mlp.Project, mode
 		return imageRef, nil
 	}
 
+	if err := c.validatePythonVersion(version); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+
 	startTime := time.Now()
 	result := "failed"
 
diff --git a/api/pkg/imagebuilder/imagebuilder_test.go b/api/pkg/imagebuilder/imagebuilder_test.go
index 6090cf893..975750af6 100644
--- a/api/pkg/imagebuilder/imagebuilder_test.go
+++ b/api/pkg/imagebuilder/imagebuilder_test.go
@@ -110,6 +110,8 @@ var (
 		"--use-new-run",
 	}
 
+	defaultSupportedPythonVersions = []string{"3.8.*", "3.9.*", "3.10.*"}
+
 	config = Config{
 		BuildNamespace: testBuildNamespace,
 		BaseImage: cfg.BaseImageConfig{
@@ -118,13 +120,14 @@ var (
 			BuildContextSubPath: "python/pyfunc-server",
 			DockerfilePath:      "./Dockerfile",
 		},
-		DockerRegistry:       testDockerRegistry,
-		BuildTimeoutDuration: timeout,
-		ClusterName:          "my-cluster",
-		GcpProject:           "test-project",
-		Environment:          testEnvironmentName,
-		KanikoImage:          "gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.1.0",
-		KanikoAdditionalArgs: defaultKanikoAdditionalArgs,
+		DockerRegistry:          testDockerRegistry,
+		BuildTimeoutDuration:    timeout,
+		ClusterName:             "my-cluster",
+		GcpProject:              "test-project",
+		Environment:             testEnvironmentName,
+		KanikoImage:             "gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.1.0",
+		KanikoAdditionalArgs:    defaultKanikoAdditionalArgs,
+		SupportedPythonVersions: defaultSupportedPythonVersions,
 		DefaultResources: cfg.ResourceRequestsLimits{
 			Requests: cfg.Resource{
 				CPU:    "500m",
@@ -156,13 +159,14 @@ var (
 			BuildContextSubPath: "python/pyfunc-server",
 			DockerfilePath:      "./Dockerfile",
 		},
-		DockerRegistry:       testDockerRegistry,
-		BuildTimeoutDuration: timeout,
-		ClusterName:          "my-cluster",
-		GcpProject:           "test-project",
-		Environment:          testEnvironmentName,
-		KanikoImage:          "gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.1.0",
-		KanikoAdditionalArgs: defaultKanikoAdditionalArgs,
+		DockerRegistry:          testDockerRegistry,
+		BuildTimeoutDuration:    timeout,
+		ClusterName:             "my-cluster",
+		GcpProject:              "test-project",
+		Environment:             testEnvironmentName,
+		KanikoImage:             "gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.1.0",
+		KanikoAdditionalArgs:    defaultKanikoAdditionalArgs,
+		SupportedPythonVersions: defaultSupportedPythonVersions,
 		DefaultResources: cfg.ResourceRequestsLimits{
 			Requests: cfg.Resource{
 				CPU:    "500m",
@@ -555,14 +559,15 @@ func TestBuildImage(t *testing.T) {
 					BuildContextSubPath: "python/pyfunc-server",
 					DockerfilePath:      "./Dockerfile",
 				},
-				DockerRegistry:       testDockerRegistry,
-				BuildTimeoutDuration: timeout,
-				ClusterName:          "my-cluster",
-				GcpProject:           "test-project",
-				Environment:          testEnvironmentName,
-				KanikoImage:          "gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.1.0",
-				KanikoAdditionalArgs: defaultKanikoAdditionalArgs,
-				DefaultResources:     config.DefaultResources,
+				DockerRegistry:          testDockerRegistry,
+				BuildTimeoutDuration:    timeout,
+				ClusterName:             "my-cluster",
+				GcpProject:              "test-project",
+				Environment:             testEnvironmentName,
+				KanikoImage:             "gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.1.0",
+				KanikoAdditionalArgs:    defaultKanikoAdditionalArgs,
+				SupportedPythonVersions: defaultSupportedPythonVersions,
+				DefaultResources:        config.DefaultResources,
 				NodeSelectors: map[string]string{
 					"cloud.google.com/gke-nodepool": "image-building-job-node-pool",
 				},
@@ -685,14 +690,15 @@ func TestBuildImage(t *testing.T) {
 					BuildContextSubPath: "python/pyfunc-server",
 					DockerfilePath:      "./Dockerfile",
 				},
-				DockerRegistry:       testDockerRegistry,
-				BuildTimeoutDuration: timeout,
-				ClusterName:          "my-cluster",
-				GcpProject:           "test-project",
-				Environment:          testEnvironmentName,
-				KanikoImage:          "gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.1.0",
-				KanikoAdditionalArgs: defaultKanikoAdditionalArgs,
-				DefaultResources:     config.DefaultResources,
+				DockerRegistry:          testDockerRegistry,
+				BuildTimeoutDuration:    timeout,
+				ClusterName:             "my-cluster",
+				GcpProject:              "test-project",
+				Environment:             testEnvironmentName,
+				KanikoImage:             "gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:v1.1.0",
+				KanikoAdditionalArgs:    defaultKanikoAdditionalArgs,
+				SupportedPythonVersions: defaultSupportedPythonVersions,
+				DefaultResources:        config.DefaultResources,
 				Tolerations: []v1.Toleration{
 					{
 						Key:      "image-build-job",
@@ -821,17 +827,18 @@ func TestBuildImage(t *testing.T) {
 					BuildContextURI: testBuildContextURL,
 					DockerfilePath:  "./Dockerfile",
 				},
-				DockerRegistry:       config.DockerRegistry,
-				BuildTimeoutDuration: config.BuildTimeoutDuration,
-				ClusterName:          config.ClusterName,
-				GcpProject:           config.GcpProject,
-				Environment:          config.Environment,
-				KanikoImage:          config.KanikoImage,
-				KanikoAdditionalArgs: defaultKanikoAdditionalArgs,
-				DefaultResources:     config.DefaultResources,
-				MaximumRetry:         config.MaximumRetry,
-				NodeSelectors:        config.NodeSelectors,
-				Tolerations:          config.Tolerations,
+				DockerRegistry:          config.DockerRegistry,
+				BuildTimeoutDuration:    config.BuildTimeoutDuration,
+				ClusterName:             config.ClusterName,
+				GcpProject:              config.GcpProject,
+				Environment:             config.Environment,
+				KanikoImage:             config.KanikoImage,
+				KanikoAdditionalArgs:    defaultKanikoAdditionalArgs,
+				SupportedPythonVersions: defaultSupportedPythonVersions,
+				DefaultResources:        config.DefaultResources,
+				MaximumRetry:            config.MaximumRetry,
+				NodeSelectors:           config.NodeSelectors,
+				Tolerations:             config.Tolerations,
 			},
 		},
 		{