* GM chairman says pay restrictions could hurt automaker

* Whitacre says changed conditions prompted Opel decision

* CEO has board support, understands mandate -- Whitacre

* Whitacre says too early to set IPO timing (Adds quote on IPO, recasts first paragraph)

By Jim Forsyth

SEGUIN, Texas, Nov 10 (Reuters) - General Motors Co [GM.UL] Chairman Ed Whitacre on Tuesday urged the Obama administration to give the automaker less restrictive pay caps and said it was too early to discuss the timing for the automaker to become a public company again.

Ed Whitacre, who became chairman of a reconstituted 13-member GM board when the automaker emerged from bankruptcy in July, also defended the decision earlier this month for GM to keep its European Opel and Vauxhall brands.

"It's been a confusing decision, but I don't think it was handled badly," Whitacre told reporters. "The circumstances changed from the time this started. The financial part of the business got better. Conditions have changed."

Whitacre said GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson and his team have the backing of the board and an understanding of the priority of paying down government debt after the company took $50 billion in U.S. government funding.