diff --git a/Lib/timeit.py b/Lib/timeit.py
index f2510ea2736..f45168b4452 100644
--- a/Lib/timeit.py
+++ b/Lib/timeit.py
@@ -191,9 +191,11 @@ class Timer:
             it = [None] * number
         gcold = gc.isenabled()
         gc.disable()
-        timing = self.inner(it, self.timer)
-        if gcold:
-            gc.enable()
+        try:
+            timing = self.inner(it, self.timer)
+        finally:
+            if gcold:
+                gc.enable()
         return timing
 
     def repeat(self, repeat=default_repeat, number=default_number):
diff --git a/Misc/ACKS b/Misc/ACKS
index d9185e2746c..31240999364 100644
--- a/Misc/ACKS
+++ b/Misc/ACKS
@@ -771,6 +771,7 @@ Chris Rebert
 Marc Recht
 John Redford
 Terry Reedy
+Gareth Rees
 Steve Reeves
 Lennart Regebro
 Ofir Reichenberg
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index c7b36e0cf90..6ba892c4500 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -246,6 +246,9 @@ Library
 
 - Issue #12603: Fix pydoc.synopsis() on files with non-negative st_mtime.
 
+- Issue #12514: Use try/finally to assure the timeit module restores garbage
+  collections when it is done.
+
 - Issue #12607: In subprocess, fix issue where if stdin, stdout or stderr is
   given as a low fd, it gets overwritten.