diff --git a/benchmark/benchmark.py b/benchmark/benchmark.py
index cc694a9f70d..d01c3b8db06 100755
--- a/benchmark/benchmark.py
+++ b/benchmark/benchmark.py
@@ -215,7 +215,11 @@ def main(
     exercises_dir: str = typer.Option(
         EXERCISES_DIR_DEFAULT, "--exercises-dir", help="Directory with exercise files"
     ),
+    timeout: Optional[int] = typer.Option(                                                                 
+        None, "--timeout", help="Per-request API timeout in seconds (passed to litellm)."
+    ),
 ):
+
     repo = git.Repo(search_parent_directories=True)
     commit_hash = repo.head.object.hexsha[:7]
     if repo.is_dirty():
@@ -350,6 +354,10 @@ def get_exercise_dirs(base_dir, languages=None):
     base_coder.RETRY_TIMEOUT = LONG_TIMEOUT
     models.RETRY_TIMEOUT = LONG_TIMEOUT
 
+    # Request timeout - default is 600, increase to avoid request timed out             
+    if timeout:                                                                         
+        models.request_timeout = timeout                                               
+
     if threads == 1:
         all_results = []
         for test_path in test_dnames: