Maybe he's been reading too many romance novels.

Fabio Quartararo had his suit open bfore the start of the Grand Prix de Catalunya. (Steve Wobser/Getty Images)

MotoGP points leader Fabio Quartararo was penalized after Sunday's Grand Prix de Catalunya for unzipping his top and exposing his chest during the race.

The French rider opened his suit to remove his chest protector with about five laps to go and couldn't get it closed back up, leaving him looking like famed model Fabio Lanzoni on the cover of a racing-themed paperback.

Onboard video from the Frenchman's bike shows the suit becoming fully opened as he finished the race in third position on the track.

He had already been hit with a three-second penalty for exceeding track limits before the officials determined after the race that he had violated the rider safety equipment rules and added another three seconds to his finishing time which dropped him to sixth place.

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Quartararo didn't agree with the track limit penalty, but had no issue with being docked for the wardrobe malfunction. 

"Yes, first of all, yeah I think looking back at what happened now the story is finished I can be happy because it’s difficult to admit, but for me it was black flag," he told Autosport.com.