24 Hours of Le Mans endurance set to start Saturday

The 82nd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, motor racing’s most famous endurance race, is set to start Saturday.

The race begins at 6 a.m. PDT and 3 p.m. local time at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, southwest of Paris.

The event features four divisions of cars, and this year’s race is highlighted by the return of Porsche to the premier prototype class, LMP1.

Porsche, which once dominated the event, is returning after a 16-year absence and now will challenge the prototypes of of Audi and Toyota.

Among the racers is actor Patrick Dempsey. The “Grey’s Anatomy” star, who also owns a sports-car racing team, is co-driving a Porsche 911 RSR in the GTE Am division (Am for amateur) of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

But French driver Loic Duval will not be competing after his Audi prototype was in a violent crash during practice Wednesday.

Duval, who was on the winning Audi team last year, was not seriously hurt but spent a night in a hospital as a precaution. He was replaced by Spanish driver Marc Gene.